Fluttering Wings
by Pawn Of Synchro
Summary: "It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world" It was never meant to happen. He had nothing to do with their conflict, yet he was hurt anyway. Yuto couldn't even speak as his Standard counterpart began to fade before his eyes. AU where Yuya doesn't move from Clearwing's attack
1. Prologue

**Fluttering Wings:  
** **Prologue:**

 _"It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world" – Chaos Theory_

* * *

He had wondered where it had all gone wrong in that moment. Perhaps it was even when he had chose to duel the Pawn of Fusion. Perhaps it was the wrong strategy. No, that wasn't the case. It was when he had chose to end his turn, without knowing what would come next. He wasn't prepared. He figured he would be prepared for almost anything; always keep a level-head. It wasn't what he had anticipated.

He could feel that there were blanks, though he was still conscious. However, throughout this time, he could hear something – no someone – calling out to him. He felt someone trying to help him.

" _Quit using...quit using duelling to clash your hatred against each-other!"_

It was unclear what the voice was saying at the time, like something was muffling the noise out. He only focused on what was in front of him at the time, he didn't, couldn't listen to the noise. It looked as if his opponent agreed with that.

" _I won't accept this! Duels are there to make people smile! They're there to make people happy! Duelling...duelling isn't for hurting people!"_

Like snapping out of some hypnotic trance, he had heard the voice clearly. The boy in front of him at the time was right. He couldn't begin to think how he would feel if he had hurt someone due to his own actions. It would be going against the cause that he and his allies, his friends had fought so hard for. He didn't want to think like the soldiers of Fusion did. That duelling was just another way to hurt people, to take people away, innocent people that just wanted to live their lives as best as they possibly could.

The hope in the boy's eyes shone brightly as the Xyz user spoke with his own thoughts. He remembered that. The boy deeply cared for those ideals. Everything he spoke of was the truth in his eyes. The hope shattered however, when the attack was called out.

If his legs could've moved that little bit faster, if it didn't feel like he was being held down by an anchor and slowed down, he would've been able to stop it. He could've saved someone. He could've helped.

But as he saw the blast connect, he knew that that wouldn't be possible. He knew that he was yet again too slow. He was too slow to save yet another person.

The blast's shockwave had sent him flying, rolling onto his side as he connected with the ground. He groaned in pain as he glanced around, his blurred vision clearing. He finally found the small, almost fragile frame lying on his back against the grass. He quickly stood up and ran towards the figure, no longer caring about the pain in his side as he tried to make sure that he wasn't hurt.

This was the whole point of trying to keep him out of the duel. He would get hurt. This would happen often whenever he was involved. The damage to the surrounding area and surrounding people would get hurt. He couldn't help but to feel a deep feeling of guilt as he stared down at the pained face of the boy who had prevented him from doing something he may have regretted.

He kneeled down next to the fourteen year-old and placed a shaky hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yuya..." He whispered softly. "Yuya...!"

Ruby red eyes peeled open and painfully turned his head to face the Xyz user. He smiled at him weakly. "Are you...alright, Yuto?" He asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

That was a bad sign. There had to be something that could be done. Yuto glanced around quickly. There was a very low chance he could get him to the hospital that the Fusion user stayed at in time. There was nothing that could be done...

Yuya must've noticed Yuto's panic despite his weakness. "I'm fine, Yuto..." He told him softly.

Yuto couldn't help that thought of _'No, you're not!'_ going through his head as he stared back down at Yuya. The poor kid was bruised and scratched all over, tears in his shirt and seemed to be bleeding in some places. The fall must've been pretty bad from how far he was shot into the air. Yet he still smiled and tried to make sure that his lookalike was okay.

Yuya struggled to press a hand against his chest and looked like his was trying to feel around for something. He made a soft wincing sound as he couldn't find whatever it was. He brought his attention back to Yuto.

"I'm sorry I couldn't...help..." He mumbled, Yuto having to lean closer to him to be able to hear what he was saying.

Yuto couldn't believe it. Yuya voiced exactly what he himself was thinking. Yuya was the one seriously injured and he was saying sorry.

"Yuya, I'm-"

"Yuto..." Yuya interrupted as he breathed heavily in pain. "Can you make...Xyz smile again?"

Yuto's mouth hung open slightly at the question, Yuya staring at him as he waited for an answer. Yuto found that the words were stuck in his throat, unable to verbally answer. All he could do at that point was nod slightly as he pressed his lips tightly together, trying to comprehend what was actually happening right now.

Yuya's smile grew as the light in his eyes began to fade ever so slightly. Yuto's eyes widened as the boy didn't fall limp but instead began to fade, flickering in and out, keeping the smile glued onto his face the entire time as Yuto could feel his hand passing through the boy's shoulder. In a matter of seconds, Yuya's body was completely gone, fading out of existence. Yuto barely had enough time to think about what had just happened before he clutched his head in pain from a sudden migraine, being different to just some ordinary one.

" _Just like a pendulum,"_

" _Coward!"_

" _Don't run away!"_

" _The more you push, the more it comes back..."_

" _Weakling!"_

" _You can't do anything if you're frozen in fear."_

" _I'll never run away from you!"_

" _Have courage and step forward if you want to win! Push forward with courage and the happiness will come swinging back at you."_

Yuto couldn't even question everything that was going on through the pain that these voices and images. He couldn't focus on anything other than the pain. Everything else just seemed to be a blur to him. He felt light-headed and unable to see clearly.

He couldn't even see the figure running towards him clearly as he allowed his body to collapse.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Ok! Prologue is done! Alright so I know that I have another story to do, but this idea has been following me all day and gosh darn it, when you need to write, you can't not do it! Plus I've been feeling like I need to write this seeing as though Arc-V is ending soon, I'm actually surprised that this is now happening.**

 **I am pretty sure that there are other fanfictions like this, but I honestly haven't gotten around to reading them so I'm unsure of the approach they took to be perfectly honest.**

 **I know that Yuya is an innocent bean and I shouldn't do it but I do feel like Yuto did have a short-lived amount of time. He really stood out to me when I first watched Arc-V, probably because his duel with Shingo was the first one I watched. Oops.**

 **I've planned out the next three chapters and they will definitely be longer and I will be having a bunch of character development and hopefully I will pace the rest of the chapters better. I'm going to have a lot of fun writing so many different characters, like this is exciting!**

 **Please let me know what you think! I don't know if this was too cheesy or anything like that because I haven't really done such a scene before. So please let me know with a review! I would really appreciate it and reading them makes me both motivated and happy to know that people are interested in the story! Thanks!**


	2. Brave Face

**Chapter One: Brave Face**

* * *

He could feel the soft touch pressing against his shoulder as it disturbed his sleep. He groaned softly as he tried to open his eyes. His head was still pounding from whatever had just happened to him as he attempted to do so. He thought about closing his eyes again to relieve himself of that and drift back to sleep.

"Yuto...!"

At the mention of his name, Yuto opened his eyes again, trying his best to keep them open as the pain still hit him like a truck. He glanced up towards the direction of the sound and saw the familiar face.

It wasn't Ruri. He knew that now. He had gotten used to the face after he figured out that the girl was not the same girl from Xyz. She wasn't his best friend's little sister. She wasn't...

She wasn't his Ruri...

It was Yuzu. The girl who had Ruri's face, however, she did have a different personality. Just little details could easily tell Yuto it was her. They had already met multiple times during his time at the Standard Dimension, and multiple times he was sent somewhere else in the city when he was with her for a while. He definitely could do without the random teleporting that came with her. Though, he couldn't at all say that he wasn't grateful that she was there. It was certainly better than having some stranger finding him. Or Reiji Akaba. Certainly better.

"...Yuzu...?" He asked, the pain in his head worsening as he spoke.

"Yuto, are you okay? Were you in a duel just now?" She asked in a slight panic.

Yuto tried to focus on the question, trying to think about what did happen. There was a duel. With the Pawn of Fusion after the Fusion user Sora had been taken back to Academia. The Pawn of Fusion summoned his dragon and then Yuto summoned his own after...then...

He couldn't really piece anything after that together all that much. There was a blank in his memory at that point. He didn't really understand what happened in between the events of the start of the duel and...

And Yuya. The whole incident came back to him so fast. The blast that went off when the Pawn of Fusion's dragon attacked, Yuto was trying to move, Yuya...

He had disappeared...and practically in Yuto's own arms.

He quickly sat up, regretting that soon after, a sudden strike of pain crashing through his spine. He hissed at the pain, Yuzu placing an arm around his back to help him stay sitting upright so he doesn't possibly hit his head and hurt himself again.

"Yuto, what happened to you?" She asked in concern as she stared at Yuto's pained face.

Yuto took a small breath and glanced around. He was still at the park where the situation went down so thankfully he wasn't unconscious for long.

As his eyes travelled along the ground, he noticed a bunch of scattered cards. There definitely was enough to make a full deck and...

And there was a card there that caught his attention.

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

That was one of the cards that Yuya had used in their duel with each-other. That meant that all of those scattered cards had belonged to him before...

"Yuya..." He said in a voice below a whisper. The blast must've scattered his cards all around before he disappeared.

Yuzu blinked in confusion at the mention of her best friend. "Yuya?" She asked. "Yuya was here?"

Yuto grimaced at the thought of telling her. He mentally cursed at himself for bringing innocent people into this. Neither Yuya or Yuzu were a part of all of this and yet he had managed to involve both of them. Not only that, but with what just happened a few moments ago...

Yuzu worriedly glanced over at the cards, eyes widening as she held her free hand over her mouth in shock. "But...but those are..." She began, trailing off, unable to piece her words together

Yuto's knees shook as he stood up, Yuzu eyeing him the entire time to make sure that he wouldn't fall again, standing up with him, though her own legs were unsteady from what her best friend's lookalike was insinuating.

Yuto struggled his way over to the scattered cards, Yuzu following alongside him the entire time. When the pair made it to the pile after some struggling, with Yuto almost tripping over his own feet a few times and Yuzu stopping him from hurting himself, they both stared down at the cards.

"...Yuto..." Yuzu spoke. "...You can't tell me that you won't tell me what happened here. Please..."

Yuto couldn't make eye contact with her. No matter how much he knew he needed to say it, it was a lot to take in. The fact that he allowed something like this to happen, he couldn't just accept that, he couldn't just shake away the feeling of guilt that was overcoming him.

"Please!" Yuzu begged, as she raised her voice with tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "That's my best friend!"

"...I don't know..." Yuto answered through his teeth. "...I don't know _what_ happened!"

Yuzu clutched her fist tightly as she tried to fight back the tears that were trying to escape her eyes. She couldn't just accept such an answer. It hadn't been long before that Yuya, Noboru and her all split-up to search for Sora, and they hadn't even found him. And the fact that Yuya was nowhere to be seen...

She bent down to look at the cards and gather them up so then a gust of wind wouldn't drift them away, Yuto being able to at least stand still while she did so, until she noticed that shining blue colour amongst the cards. That chain and design...

...It was Yuya's pendulum...

That was not good... _definitely_ not good. Yuya would never just lose his pendulum like that. Sure, the cards were already a surprise enough, but the last gift he had received from his father years ago...Yuzu couldn't just leave any of this alone. With a shaky hand, she picked the pendulum up and held it close to her as she hitched back a sob.

Yuto bit his lip as he watched the scene in front of him play out. He figured that she got the point on her own, but that didn't mean that he felt any less bad about it all. In fact, it all made him feel worse.

Not being able to protect Ruri when she was kidnapped and is who knows where in the Fusion Dimension and now this...all of the people he couldn't help...he hated how helpless he was feeling.

If he could've remembered exactly why it happened, he would've been able to fully explain. Did he miss something in that memory gap to tell him how exactly Yuya just...faded away like that. It was definitely not normal for such a thing to happen.

Yuzu glanced up at him for a moment in thought, causing Yuto to instinctively look away. There was no telling what she could've been thinking at that moment. She was still teary-eyed and biting into her bottom lip, so Yuto could only guess that she was trying to think how or why any of this happened. He truly did feel for her. After all, he went through something similar when the whole situation started.

She looked back down at the cards and picked them all up in a pile with the pendulum still in her other hand and stood up to face Yuto again, trying her best to compose herself.

"Yuto..." She began; her voice quivering as she spoke. "...Why did this happen? How did Yuya...? No, that couldn't have happened...where did he...?"

Yuto glanced at her from the corner of his eye in guilt and shook his head. "I don't know how to answer that..." He replied.

Yuzu tensed up at his words, worried for the worst. "Are...are you telling me he's...?"

Yuto sighed. "I don't know." He answered. "I just don't know how to explain. It happened so fast and...I don't remember parts of tonight..."

Yuzu stared at him in worry before looking down at the ground. "Please try to Yuto...please just try to tell me what happened. Because...because I know that you wouldn't do something like this to him. You and Yuya...not only by appearance, but by morals, you two are alike. Please tell me! This involves me too!"

Yuto shook his head at her again. "...I can't involve you anymore than I already have. You need to let me-"

"Yuto!" Yuzu interrupted, raising her voice. "Don't make me say it again! I don't want to think that Yuya...you have to let me know! This isn't just between you and your enemy anymore! This involves me now too!"

Yuto thought about it for a moment. Yuzu was clearly in despair. She was emotionally weak. The least he could do for her at the time was help to calm her down as much as possible and to answer what he could. "You do deserve to know..."

Yuzu gave him a sad smile and glanced down at his side. "Oh! Are you still hurt?" She asked in concern.

Yuto flinched away. "It's not that bad. I'm fine. I've dealt with worse."

Yuzu put the pendulum in the same hand as the cards were in and grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away. Yuto, although surprised at first, allowed her to walk him to wherever she was taking him. It may have been good for the both of them to get out of the area anyway after all of that.

He wondered about exactly what he was going to say. He didn't want her to get hurt because of all this he brought with him, but it may be a good idea to further warn her about it, he supposed. Though he didn't know how far she would take his warning. From what he saw, she was quite strong and independent, especially when she challenged Shingo and his entourage. But even so...

Before he knew it, she had led him to the warehouses where they had first met each-other, speaking of Shingo. She had opened the large door of one of them and left it open to keep some light in as she and Yuto walked inside.

As they entered, Yuto couldn't help but to wonder if the group of four had put couches in all of these warehouses or if every one of them conveniently had some.

Yuzu lead Yuto over to one of the couches, although Yuto could feel her hands were still shaking on his back as she did so. She was putting on as brave of a face as she possibly could, though it was obvious how much she was truly hurting inside. It was quite disheartening to see someone like her in the state she was currently in.

The pair sat down on the same couch as each-other in a moment of silence as Yuzu stared down at the deck and pendulum that belonged to her friend in her hands. It was as if she was trying to prepare herself and hoping that she didn't break down in front of him like in the park. Though, Yuto would completely understand if that were to be the case.

Yuzu took in a deep breath and shakily breathed it back out and turned her head towards Yuto.

"...You really do look like him..." She said, taking Yuto aback. "Yuya I mean. I just can't believe it..."

Yuto glanced down at the warehouse floor. "...I'm sorry..." He mumbled.

Yuzu stared at him for a moment, putting her words together in her mind before speaking once again.

"Yuto, it's not your fault, I'm sure. I know that someone like you wouldn't do something like that. It would mean going against your cause that you and your friends are working so hard for...but please, I need to know what's going on. The whole story." Yuzu told him with a firm tone.

Yuto glanced back up at her from the corner of his eye for a moment. There was no getting out of this. And he had already told Yuya before...

"The whole story..." He repeated. "...It's unusual...so I would understand for you not to believe any of it. Do you still want to know?"

Yuzu took no time to think before giving Yuto a certain nod. Yuto nodded back, understanding.

"It started three years ago in my hometown of Heartland...it used to be so peaceful back then. The day was normal, people walked around to their own business and I was with my friends Shun and Ruri..." Yuto began.

Yuzu recognised both names. "Shun...that's your friend from the other day, right? And Ruri is his sister?"

Yuto nodded. "That's right." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Of course, you most likely realised that it didn't stay that way for long. Heartland was taken under siege by a large number of soldiers from Academia."

"Academia?"

"In other words, the soldiers are students from the Fusion Dimension who are the most skilled. It's not just a school."

Yuzu's mouth hung slightly open. "Fusion Dimension?" She asked. "So, you're saying that there's more than just this dimension...?"

Yuto nodded as he held his side to stop the pain. "I didn't believe it at first either, but me being here is proof of that theory. Because as I can tell so far, there's even more."

"You being here...?"

"Yes. I come from a place known as the Xyz Dimension. That's where Heartland is."

Yuto paused there to allow Yuzu to think about it. It was quite the unbelieve story, of course, so he wouldn't be surprised if she were to ask if it was some kind of joke. She looked to be silently contemplating it before bringing her attention back to Yuto.

"Okay, and what happened after that?" She asked.

Yuto blinked before doing as she asked. She most likely would ask some more questions afterwards anyway.

"Well...as to be expected, a lot of us didn't make it. It was a merciless attack. The soldiers of Academia would turn anyone who passed by into a card. Why they're doing it, I have no idea." Yuto explained.

"We survivors of that first attack were able to build up a camp. We had lost many people that day, either being carded or missing. But we managed with our resources that we had at the time, having to save everything we possibly could. A girl I know lost her friend in the crowd as he ran off to try and help someone out during the raid. We unfortunately couldn't find him when some of us went patrolling for anyone we may have missed by mistake, so she's torn up about that."

"Later on, sometime during the night, Ruri went to go get something from storage. And when I noticed she was taking a while, I went to see what was happening. By the time I got there, however, she had been beaten in a duel and was unconscious."

Yuzu frowned. "And that's when she was kidnapped I'm guessing."

Yuto followed that question with a solemn expression. "Yes, but that's not the only thing. I couldn't see everything because the person who took her was wearing a cloak, but I saw his face. It was...I don't know how to explain it, but he had the same face as me."

Yuzu's eyes widened in shock. "So, not only do I have the same face as Ruri, but you share the same face as Yuya and this guy that took Ruri?"

Yuto nodded once again. "However, Yuya was not the same person. The person who took her came back later. He's a pawn of Fusion."

"Pawn?" Yuzu asked.

"Yes. He doesn't use Fusion, but instead Synchro. It's the only way that he would be able to travel to Xyz. Unfortunately, at the time, Fusion was the only place who had the technology to travel to different dimensions, and it was no coincidence that he had the same face."

"So, after that..."

"We duelled, but with no outcome. Shun and a few others arrived and he drove off. It was probably too much considering how we were evenly matched in the duel. So I got no information. However, after so long we finally got our hands on some technology and some information."

"We found out that a relative of the one who started this whole thing is here in this dimension. So after a friend of ours fixed our duel disks with the technology, we came straight over here to try and find him, and get some information out of him about this whole situation."

Yuzu thought about all of that information she had just been given. She hummed in thought.

"That explains why you would come here, I guess. I understand going the safe route and everything but...what happened when you arrived exactly? Why was your friend hurting those LDS students?" She asked in concern.

Yuto sighed. "Shun is...well, he means well, however, the way he goes about it is a little unsophisticated. I was only lucky to be able to knock him out before. Normally it's a much harder job to do something like that." He explained. "He was trying to get the attention of that person that we're looking for. It would be almost impossible to try and get face-to-face with him by ourselves."

Yuzu clutched the pendulum in her hand tightly. "But...but that's so wrong. Those students never did anything wrong."

"I know that." Yuto replied. "That's why I didn't do anything to the LDS student I duelled."

Yuzu relaxed herself. "Yeah, that was Sawatari Shingo." She added. "That was when you helped me out."

Yuto shuffled to get a little more comfortable on the couch. "Yeah. It was."

"Okay, my final question...about-"

Yuzu felt a short-lasting vibration and quickly pulled out her phone, flipping it open. Her eyes gazed upon the screen before biting her lip and closing it.

"Sorry, that's my dad." She apologised before groaning. "Curfew. You know how it is with overprotective parents."

Yuto looked down at his feet with a small sad smile. "Yeah...I do..." He answered quietly.

Yuzu stared at him before quickly standing up and covering her mouth. "Y-Yuto, I'm so sorry!"

Yuto shook his head. "No, it's fine. I've come to terms with it. I know it might be wishful thinking with them anyway. For now, I can focus on Ruri, and if possible, reverse the carding."

Yuzu lowered her hand slowly and continued to stare at the boy. From first glance, one would think he is a really strong-willed person, a person who isn't scared of anything. He said that he had already come to terms with such a thing, but Yuzu couldn't decide whether or not she could believe such a thing. He was really just a kid who got involved in a terrible situation. He was still Yuzu's age, and yet she couldn't imagine being in a situation like he's in. She wouldn't know what to do without her dad in her life.

Her eyes travelled to where Yuto was clutching his side. He was still in pain. She couldn't leave someone in such a state.

"Yuto," She began awkwardly, gaining said boy's attention. "How about...just for tonight that is...would you like to rest up at my place?"

Yuto's whole body loosened up as he blinked, looking so much more like Yuya. "Excuse me?"

Yuzu scratched the back of her neck, unsure of what she was saying as words began to pour out from her mouth. "Well, it's just that...you're still hurt and I wouldn't want to leave you by yourself. Unless you know where Shun is and he can help you? Ah, what am I saying? Of course he'll help!"

Yuto stared at her as she continued. He wasn't too sure about either option working well. Going to Yuzu's house might put her in danger. On the other hand, Yuto wasn't too sure after his last encounter with Shun he would be too willing to help out. Shun hadn't even contacted him since the whole incident. Which was unusual, but Yuto wouldn't doubt it was because he was still frustrated.

However, his body hurt like hell.

Yuzu paused during the middle of her ramblings and stared back at the spiky-haired Yuya lookalike. She walked until she was right in front of him and grabbed onto his free hand tightly and pulled him up from the couch. He hissed through his teeth at the sudden pain in both his side and his hand. He had no idea how strong this girl was at first glance. She had a good grip for sure.

Yuzu smiled warmly at Yuto. "Ah, sorry about that! I wasn't too sure if you were going to get off without me forcing you to. Something tells me you don't want to ask for my help."

Yuto raised a brow before clutching onto his side again with the hand that wasn't currently being held by the strong girl. "I don't want you getting-"

"-Hurt, I know. But I don't want you being in pain. Consider this as me repaying you for helping me out when we first met." Yuzu interrupted, making Yuto close his mouth shut.

Yuto didn't even know what to say. In his situation, such kindness from a person was a rare thing. He couldn't even begin to put into words in his head of how appreciative he was to her.

"Thank you." He managed to say. He didn't know what else he possibly could say. She put on such a brave face for him. Even though she lost someone really important to her. She was doing it to help him out. And even now, she is still helping him out. She was one of those selfless people that were rare to come by.

"Well, let's go! My dad would freak out if we don't start walking soon." She suggested, to which Yuto agreed. They made their way out of the warehouse, closing the door behind them, strolling slowly as not to cause Yuto anymore unnecessary pain.

"What were you so nervous about, Yuto?" She asked out-of-the-blue. "Something tells me that it's not because a girl invited you to her house."

Yuto shook his head. "What made you think something was wrong?" He asked.

Yuzu shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just able to read people quite well." She answered.

"Nothing's wrong." He told her. He felt a gentle tap on his head and turned his head towards the pink-haired girl who was now holding a large paper fan.

"Liar." She said, as she let out a sigh. "If you weren't injured, it wouldn't feel like a soft breeze."

"What would it feel like?" He asked, unsure of why exactly he was going on about such a strange subject like a paper fan hurting someone.

Yuzu smirked. "Well, it'd hurt more than a paper cut."

Yuto silently cursed at himself for becoming so comfortable around this girl. She reminded him so much of Ruri, it was almost scary. For once in three years, he let his guard down. And for once he didn't actually mind.

* * *

When they had arrived at the house, Yuzu had motioned for Yuto to stay outside as she poked her head through the door and began looking around as much as she could. Yuto still couldn't get his head around the fact that he was being snuck into the person's house who invited him, but he figured it was best not to question it, with Yuzu threatening him with that paper fan and all.

Another thing that struck him as odd is how long he had been around the girl without being randomly teleported halfway across the city. But he figured it would come with time, though he didn't really know the cause of the strange occurrence.

Yuzu pulled her head out from behind the door and motioned for Yuto to follow her in to which they quickly rushed through the house to eventually make it into her room, passing her dad along the way, who was currently facing away from the door, drawing up something on a large piece of paper. Once they successfully made it in, Yuzu closed the door as fast as she could and turned on her bedroom light. She let out a small sigh of relief.

"I don't think he saw you. We're good." She said with a smile.

Yuto glanced around the room. It was a decent size, though that was probably because of how organised everything was. Nothing in the room was the slightest bit messy or out of place. It was...comforting almost.

"You seemed experienced in that." He stated. "Very quiet movements I mean."

Yuzu laughed nervously. "Well, I used to do it all the time as a kid..." She replied quietly. "...with Yuya..."

Yuto's feeling of guilt hit him again. Of course if the pair were friends for so long, she was certainly going to be cut-up about the whole thing.

"It was kind of funny actually. We would come up with a whole plan and everything. He would even hide in my closet whenever we heard someone coming. He was small enough to fit in-between two of the shelves in it. But he'd somehow get stuck and I'd have to pull him back out. A little difficult when you're so short you can barely reach him though. He was better at climbing up, not down." Yuzu thought back with the smile still on her face.

Yuto allowed himself to let out a chuckle. The thought of the pair doing such a thing sounded so innocent. Trying to hide somewhere in the house in hopes of being left there. It was something that would surely never work, but kids were getting more and more creative.

"Yuzu, is that you?" The pair flinched as they heard a voice from the other side of the door. The heard the sound of a hand grabbing the door knob and Yuzu sprinted to the door and pushed on it to keep it shut.

"Yeah, it's me dad!" She called back.

"What's going on?" Yuzu's father asked as he still tried to get the door open.

Yuzu paused for a quick moment before speaking. "Uhm, I'm making a stage costume and it's a mess right now, so I would prefer for no one to see something that is half-done!" She replied.

The two in the room heard the sound of the door knob shaking from the other side cease and her dad seemed to buy it. "Oh alright! I can't stop you when you're doing something like that unless I want another fan to the face anyway..." He muttered. "Have fun!"

The pair waited until they stopped hearing the sound of nearby footsteps and let out the air that they had been holding in their lungs in relief.

"You seem to be experienced in lying too." Yuto commented.

Yuzu turned back to face him. "Hey, I don't lie. I technically am making one. Just not right at this second is all."

Yuto just folded his arms and accepted that answer. He honestly didn't even know how to respond to her.

Yuzu walked over to her bed and kneeled down next to it, reaching her arms down underneath it. She grabbed onto something and began pulling and brought out a mattress. She did the same thing, but this time bringing out some blankets and placed them on top of the mattress. She then stood up and grabbed one of the pillows from her bed and threw that on the mattress too.

"I hope you don't mind the rushed accommodation, Yuto." She said. "I don't really know how my dad would react to having someone in the guest room without his knowledge."

Yuto shook his head. "Thank you for helping me out in the first place. I appreciate it." He insisted.

"And don't worry about my dad coming in. He knows not to in the morning. I'll get you some breakfast in the morning too." She added.

Yuto's mouth opened slightly before smiling. "That's very kind. Thank you."

Yuzu smiled back as she sat down on her own bed. "Sorry to bring this back up but..."

Yuto knew exactly where this was going. And if on the slim chance that Yuzu had believed what he had said before, what would the chances be of her believing the story about what happened that night?

"What exactly happened to Yuya? I need the truth. The whole story."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Okie! The chapter is done! Yes! I was really happy with how well of a response I got from the prologue that I couldn't help but to write all of this! The response was definitely better than expected so thank you all so much! Eight reviews for a prologue! This is probably one of my first really plot-heavy stories as opposed to my more comedic ones so hopefully I can continue to please you all as much as I possibly can.**

 **Poor Yuto and Yuzu though...honestly it's hurting me because they already go through enough as it is. But I guess everyone suffers in this series, like no one is safe. I also hope I'm not confusing anyone with anything so far. But it seems like Yuya is subconsciously affecting Yuto...But next chapter is going to be quite different, so you'll get some newer things than the information that we already know.**

 **Okay, so I got a question in a review asking if there are going to be duels. And I think so. I haven't ever written a duel before so I'm going to be doing a lot of practice. And I think a good way of me doing this is not only by watching the anime or reading the manga, but also by playing the games. For example, I have the Yugioh Zexal Duel Carnival game and I've gotten some good strategies and all of that out of it so I'm going to see if I can do the same for Arc-V, though I'm not solely going to rely on just the games. Thank you for the question!**

 **I will be thanking everyone who reviews through private messaging over time. I think this is a nice way to thank all of you to show my appreciation. Because all of your reviews made me smile so much and like yes! But until I do get around to it, thank you all so much! I really appreciate it!**

 **So with that all being said, please leave a review to let me know how this is going so far! Like I said, I really appreciate them and they greatly motivate me to continue and update!**


	3. The Blanks

**Chapter Two: The Blanks**

* * *

Shun couldn't relax as he paced around the room that Reiji Akaba had given to him for his time staying with him. More like being forced to. Shun had already agreed to that tournament thing that Reiji was so keen about, so he didn't understand why he was practically in house arrest. He wasn't permitted to go anywhere, not even for a short walk or to get anything, and the routine was very strict. Now that he thought about it, he was under house arrest.

The whole point was to get close to Reiji and hopefully get some useful information out of him, but Shun wasn't getting a whole lot. The guy seemed to just be on their side from the looks of it, but something about Reiji just rubbed him the wrong way.

Especially after that whole incident. Yuto seemed to be doing fine, but then when the cameras went out after the pawn of Fusion arrived, he grew worried for Yuto.

And thanks to Reiji, Shun couldn't even go and see if his best friend was okay. Yuto was probably the only person that could calm him down and keep him focused on the objective in this kind of situation. Yuto did so much for him, and yet...and yet he could only stand around as all of that went down.

What made matters worse that if the Pawn of Fusion got him...he would never be able to forgive himself. With the conversation that they had left each-other with last, he couldn't bear to think that if something were to happen, that the conversation that they had would be the last thing that Yuto would remember about him. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

"Damn...!" He muttered to himself as he roughly brushed a hand through his hair. Yuto was all that he had left in the situation, he couldn't have...

* * *

" _Oh, you're awake." He heard the familiar voice. "Good, I hoped I didn't hit you too hard."_

 _That was right. Yuto had been the one to knock him out. No wonder his gut hurt like hell. He had almost forgot how strong his friend was considering that he never normally uses violence, and when he does, it's normally merciful. Shun sat up, ignoring the slight pain that was still present._

 _He glanced around to wherever Yuto had taken him after that little incident. It was an unfamiliar area, not the normal warehouses he was used to seeing. They were at the end of an alleyway, surrounded by boxes upon boxes. In short, he had no idea where they were._

 _Yuto glanced up and down the alley and then back to Shun. "Not too sure what that was," He began in thought. "I don't understand why this is happening."_

 _Shun narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, me neither." He replied bitterly at Yuto, getting the attention of said person._

 _Yuto stared at him for a moment before asking the question as he folded his arms. "Okay, so what made you wake up in such a bad mood?"_

 _Shun hissed in pain as he stood up, using the surrounding boxes to help. He thought he would be better soon, but dealing with one of Yuto's punches was harder than he had expected. "You mean, other than getting punched in the gut?"_

 _Yuto raised a brow, but kept his composure. He had to keep himself calm to calm down Shun. He was used to this sort of thing ever since the whole war began. "Sorry, but I had to do that. You didn't know what you were doing." He replied in a calm tone._

 _Shun looked to be fuming. Yuto knew how he would get. He had to stay calm and somehow explain to him the whole story, though, that would prove to be difficult when Shun got an idea into his head._

" _I didn't know what I was doing?" Shun repeated with the anger clear in his voice. Yuto couldn't help but flinch at the sudden change in his voice. Even so, he still tried to calm him down._

" _Shun, you need to calm down. We can't afford to attract as much attention as we already have." Yuto reminded him quietly, hoping his friend would do the same. Much to his distaste, that wasn't the case._

" _You mean, 'do what we came here to do'? We agreed that we couldn't directly get to this Reiji Akaba, so we decided to do this!"_

 _Yuto shook his head. "I think...I think we've gone about this wrong, Shun. What we're doing...we're carding innocent people. We're no better than Fusion if we continue doing this. We need to approach this differently." He explained._

 _Shun clenched his fists tightly. "They're just more brainwashed students of Fusion! It's obvious that they are!"_

 _Yuto bit his lip. "I don't...I don't think that they are. I've seen it for myself. The LDS student I duelled didn't have any knowledge of this. I don't think a guy who was that scared would lie. I just...I just can't agree with you there, Shun."_

" _It seems like you've basically been saying that a lot lately..." Shun muttered under his breath._

" _Excuse me?"_

" _With Ruri!" Shun yelled, his anger taking over again. "She was right there, and you obviously didn't want to get her back like I did!"_

 _Yuto tried his best to stay calm, however, being at the receiving end of Shun's wrath could make anyone a little nervous. "Shun, you're not listening to me. I need to explain to you what's going on."_

" _Then explain it! I'm all ears!"_

 _Yuto didn't know for sure if Shun would listen despite his words, but he figured he needed to try. He had already dug this whole and it would just get deeper if he didn't say anything._

" _That was not Ruri. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Shun, but your sister is not here in this dimension." He began. He opened his mouth to speak again before being cut off by a distressed Shun._

" _What are you talking about? That was Ruri! Do you think that I don't know my own little sister's face?" Shun yelled as he began to tremble from rage. Yuto wasn't sure, but he thought that Shun would be on the verge of tears hearing that. He must've gotten his hopes up quite high for it being Ruri, but hearing that it wasn't...it was quite clear that he was in denial. No one would want to hear something like that about their own little sister, of course._

" _I know she has the same face, I do, but I've seen her for myself and it's not her. It's not Ruri. The girl uses fusion, and you know that Ruri would never do something like that, Shun. You need to calm down and listen to me."_

" _You have to be lying!"_

 _Yuto took in a shaky breath before replying. "Why would I lie about that Shun? Ruri is important to both of us! She...I wouldn't say it if I wasn't sure."_

 _Shun bit hard into his bottom lip, though, it wasn't hard enough to draw blood._

 _Yuto knew that he shouldn't have in such a tense moment, but he couldn't stop the question from escaping his lips. "Did you mean what you said back there?"_

 _Shun paused for a moment to think about the question. "What exactly did I say?" He asked in a calmer voice, though, it was still clear of how mad he was._

" _When you said that thing about if I got in your way..." Yuto finished, struggling to do so, afraid of what the answer could be._

 _Shun stayed silent for a moment that seemed to last a long time for the pair. Yuto couldn't help but to feel disheartened by the fact that his friend even had to think about such a thing. Surely, he wouldn't..._

" _Yuto, you know I would do anything to get Ruri back." Shun answered at last as he shook his head._

 _Yuto frowned and couldn't help but to let the shock on his face stay put. That was all that he needed to hear at that moment. He realised that Shun was at the time, just angry, but to think that he would actually say something like that. He figured that the logical thing to do was to leave Shun alone for a bit but...he also felt the need to leave due to those words directed at him. He understood it was for Ruri, but even so..._

 _Yuto sighed, trying to maintain his composure as best as he possibly could. "Okay, I get it. I'll leave you be..." He said as he began to walk away. Shun watched him walk away before staring down at his feet._

 _That was just perfect._

* * *

Shun just cursed at himself. He really did that. Those were the final words he said to Yuto, and from the looks of it, he had taken it pretty hard.

"My damn pride...god damn it...!" He hissed through his teeth. "I messed up bad this time...!"

He pulled out his duel disk and pressed a few buttons. Up on the screen came some details along with a picture of Yuto.

Shun's finger hovered over the 'call' button for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not to do it. After all, there was still a chance...Yuto wasn't one to go down easily, however, that didn't make Shun any less worried for him.

He eventually decided against it, pressing the 'back' button on the holographic screen, until it was back to normal. He couldn't call him. It didn't feel like a right thing to do.

Instead, doing this face-to-face would be a better idea. And to do that...

He stormed out of his room, taking his duel disk and deck with him. He of course couldn't get out of this place himself, but if he forced Reiji...

"Just calm down, Shun." He told himself softly. He figured that getting hot-headed too soon could end badly. After all, he had just learned from experience.

He managed to navigate his way to the front doors of the surveillance room where Reiji would normally be found. It took him a lot of work to finally be able to walk around, knowing where everything was at first, but eventually, he managed to get a feel of this large building. And of course, two guards were waiting to greet him.

Shun made sure to repeat to himself in his head not to go straight to violence. Last resort. Only as a last resort, he told himself. He still needed to be close to Reiji after all.

"Kurosaki, what do you need?" One of the guards asked.

"To see Reiji Akaba." He replied sternly.

The pair of guards exchanged a look with each-other and then turned their attention back to Shun. "Look, we can't do anything about-"

"I know. That's why I'm telling you to let me see Reiji." Shun interrupted, making sure he used the word 'telling' and not 'asking'.

"We can't-"

"It's quite alright. I'm here now anyway."

Shun turned around at the voice and scowled at the owner. Reiji Akaba.

"Now," Reiji began as he adjusted his glasses. "What is it that you could need?"

Shun kept the scowl on his face. "You know what I want, Reiji!" He yelled. Keeping calm wasn't working for him. The very sight of Reiji Akaba made him sick. He couldn't stand the man, yet he needed to stay close to him. For Ruri, he would tell himself constantly. "Yuto needs-!"

"Sorry, I can't let you go running off. You would cause more trouble than good, I'm afraid." Reiji calmly answered the unfinished statement. "It's best if you let us handle this for now."

"Reiji!" Shun screamed as he launched himself towards Reiji, rage evident in his eyes, but was pulled back and held down by the two guards that he had seemed to have forgotten were standing right behind him. He kept his glare on Reiji, even when he was knocked down to the ground on his stomach.

Reiji continued to speak to Shun. "You must realise by now that you're emotions get the best of you too well. You need to look at things from a logical point of view." He stated as he walked by the guards and Shun to get to his surveillance room. "Otherwise, you might actually put someone you care about in danger. Remember those words carefully."

Shun grunted as the guards kept holding him down. But he didn't forget to use some choice words for Reiji.

All because that Reiji wanted him to enter the tournament...!

No...

All because he didn't take his friend's advice...

* * *

He couldn't figure out why, but that night had been a big blur to him. Yeah, he remembered showing up where Rin's kidnapper was, challenging him to a duel, and then...somewhere during that duel it was like he fell unconscious or something. He couldn't remember a whole lot after that. He did recall someone yelling something but he couldn't put the sounds into words for some reason. There was a louder noise too sometime after that but...

But then he in a sense 'woke back up'. He didn't know how to put it but he didn't know what was going on at all. He couldn't find his opponent until he glanced around the park and through a bright light, he could see the silhouette of the kidnapper. He wondered why exactly the guy was kneeling down but he guessed that he won the duel. The duel had stopped after all, and he was still on his D-wheel.

He quickly hopped off his D-wheel and began to walk towards the unsuspecting kidnapper. He needed answers for Rin's disappearance and the strange hole in his memory. He needed answers for everything, and at that point, Yugo had this guy where he wanted him. He would be able to finally see Rin again and get back home with her. And then they would be able to make their dream of entering – and winning – the Friendship Games a reality.

"Oi-!" He began until he noticed something odd. Yugo saw the kidnapper...holding someone. Someone who looked injured. But there wasn't-

Yugo bit his lip. Hard. What exactly went on? Why is someone actually hurt? Why was someone there?

Yugo had vaguely remembered someone being there, trying to interfere every so often. Yugo didn't think that someone else could get hurt like that in a duel. The thought never even occurred to him when he had found the guy he had been trying to find for such a long time. He didn't even-

" _Geez! You really need to focus more, Yugo!"_

He couldn't have focused on anything other than the guy he was duelling. If Rin were here, she would've been really mad at him for not noticing such an important detail.

" _When you focus, you're strong, but when you don't...it's going to come back at you."_

" _Yeah, I heard you the first twenty times, Rin! I still did fine!"_

Come back at him...he shook his head and began running towards the light that illuminated around the pair, unsure of what he would do when he reached them. The light slowly began to fade away and not only did the kidnapper pass out, but the other boy was gone too. Yugo sprinted and kneeled beside his lookalike.

Cards had been scattered everywhere and they were very unfamiliar. None of the cards would've belonged to his opponent. They were...different from any other cards he had seen before. He guessed that they belonged to the other kid.

He shook his head as he mentally told himself to focus. He wouldn't be able to figure out where the kid went, or what that lightshow was all about unless he got some answers from the unconscious figure laying in front of him. There was no other way. He needed to work out exactly what to do. He didn't expect him to pass out like that, not saying that he didn't deserve it, but he won, so he wanted answers as to where his childhood friend was as soon as he possibly could.

"Hey!" He yelled, groaning when he didn't get the slightest response. He considered kicking him for a moment before disagreeing with himself. He was still mad, fuming more like it, but he doubted that the guy would even feel it. With him not being awake and all. And besides, Yugo figured that he had already been hurt enough – for that night at least – for what he did.

He scratched the back of his neck in thought. "I dunno...what do you want me to do, carry you? Waiting's not what I do."

He sighed as he got himself prepared to pick him up until a white light blinded him for a moment. He flinched, closing his eyes tightly shut upon seeing it. What was it with the lights tonight? It was definitely a weird place he had ended up in. Wherever exactly it was.

He felt himself crash onto something hard on his back. He fell? He wasn't sure how he fell when he didn't even remember taking his feet off of the ground. But damn, it hurt. His eyes shot open on impact in surprise and quickly sat up, holding the back of his head, trying to stop the pain as he hissed at the touch. He of course, didn't think about the pain too much as he glanced around the area he had fallen in. It was definitely not the park. He raised a brow in confusion and scanned the place further. He was...in a city? The lights on the tall buildings shone brightly through the darkness of the night, hurting his eyes when he looked up at them. He didn't even know that there was one so close by...but, looking at it...

"...No way..." He whispered to himself in disbelief. He had landed right in his hometown. Well, the Tops side of it anyway. It wasn't the busier parts, but definitely their area.

How did he get back? He thought that Clear Wing was the reason he could travel like that. And that it only lead him to who could lead him to Rin. He wasn't even near his D-wheel where all of his deck was at during that time.

He suddenly heard a noise so ear-piercing that he flinched back as he had to hold his ears in order to stop his ears from exploding. He looked up when the sound stopped to see a girl who was maybe a few years older than him covering her mouth in surprise. How didn't he notice her standing there before?

" _Geez, Yugo! You need to focus on more than one thing at a time!"_

Oh. Right. That.

The problem here was that he looked to be in a Tops area. This girl probably saw him and noticed he was part of the Commons and report him to the Security. And once they start coming after him, it would be hard to shake them off, even with his D-Wheel. That could just end up forcing him into a duel. And if they ganged up on him…

Or maybe it was the whole 'appearing out of nowhere' thing. That seemed to fit too he supposed.

"Uh…" Yugo began, unsure of how to get out of this. "…How about I leave and we'll just say this never-"

"You can't leave, are you joking?" The girl interrupted as her eyes shone through her odd swirly glasses. "This is the kind of thing I'm looking for! This is going to help me keep my job!"

Yugo cocked his head to the side. "I might be new to this kind of thing, but how does me appearing help you keep your job?" He asked.

The girl glanced back at him after her day-dream was over. "I'm a reporter, of course. This is how I make my living. My name's Carly Nagisa, you might have heard of my work."

Yugo quickly shook his head. "Never heard of you." He answered, Carly's expression becoming deadpan.

Carly didn't bother with scolding Yugo for not hearing anything. By the way he looked, he was one of the Commons. That scruffy hair was proof of that. She wouldn't be surprised if only a handful of Commons had heard of her name.

"Well, it doesn't matter." She stated. "After all, this is going to help me big time."

Yugo stood up to face her properly. Yeah, he wanted to a well-known guy like Jack Atlas, but this wasn't really the way he was planning on doing that. There was a high possibility that this article would give the Tops another reason to track him down. And he didn't have the time to go to the Facility. "Sorry, I'm busy."

Carly frowned. "Oh, that's disappointing. I mean, it's only my job at stake here."

Yugo scowled. "That whole guilt-tripping thing doesn't work! Do I look like an idiot to you?"

Carly flinched back at the sudden change in his attitude, but took a deep breath to relax herself. "I was going to offer you some food, but if you really don't want to…I guess I'll have to throw away some of that lasagne. Shame."

Yugo's head perked up as his scowl suddenly disappeared. "Really?" He asked.

Carly nodded. "Yeah, and I mean it too. Think of it as us exchanging something!" She suggested.

Yugo's cheery face surfaced. "Well, I mean, since you insist! I'll get my D-Wheel and you can show me where to go!"

Carly grimaced. "I don't know…riding on one of those isn't really-" She cut herself off as the Common threw her a helmet.

"It's easy! All you got to do is hold on!" Yugo told her, laughing.

Carly gulped. If he took as much effort into his driving as he did his hair, then she would probably die. But this is the only way this Common would follow her. And she needed that information as soon as possible. Otherwise she's out of the job.

Carly muttered something under her breath as the Common began to start the engine on his vehicle and put his own helmet over his head. Carly followed suit and placed hers on too, hesitantly sitting behind him on the D-Wheel.

"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked.

Yugo smiled. "Of course, I'm driving!"

Carly felt her heart sink.

She was going to die.

* * *

The pair had made it to the apartment that Carly had lived in and skidded to a halt on the D-Wheel. Yugo had to admit to himself as he took off his helmet that the place from the outside looked very appealing. And he was going to go inside and eat in the place no less. He smiled and looked over his shoulder to a panicking Carly. "See, you didn't die!" He laughed.

Carly let go of the boy and shot off the bike like a bat out of hell. Her legs were still shaking from the nervousness. "Hey, we had so many close calls there, you know?" She told him.

Yugo shrugged. "That's just how I normally drive, I don't see the problem." He said with a frown as Carly threw her own borrowed helmet in his hands.

Carly groaned. "Let's just go in. I need to sit down on something that's not moving."

Yugo pushed himself off his vehicle and followed her through the building until they had eventually made it to her room. The whole hallway looked beautiful. Yugo wondered if hallways even needed to be that nice looking. Rich people.

Carly pulled her key card out of her handbag that hung from her shoulder and swiped it through the scanner next to the door, making a 'beep' sound, the door opening soon after. Yugo couldn't stop his mouth from dropping as he saw the room. He kind of expected a reporter's room to be very untidy, but everything was really organised. There wasn't a thing that looked out of place from the looks of it.

Carly walked in and turned around to stare at Yugo as he just stared at the room. She laughed at his amazement. "Well, are you waiting for a red carpet?" She asked jokingly.

Yugo took a few steps forward until he was in the room. "I'm surprised you don't have one." He gasped, the door closing behind him.

Carly made her way to the kitchen, dropping her handbag and key card onto the bench as she did so. "I'll get your food ready now. Um..."

Yugo stopped gawking at the room and paid attention to the reporter. "Huh? What is it?" He asked.

Carly opened the fridge and pulled out a serving plate which held the promised lasagne. "Well, normally I give food to people that I know the names of, you know?" She hinted as she closed the fridge with her foot.

Yugo blinked until he eventually got the hint. "Oh yeah! The name's Yugo!" He greeted.

"Okay, so Ludo-"

"Yugo...!" The duelist sneered.

Carly raised a brow. "Yikes, okay then Yugo..." She corrected herself. "Do you have a last name I can use. There could be a bunch of people I know with that name for all I know."

Yugo shook his head. "I would, but I don't know what it would be." He replied as he took a seat at the bench as he eyed the food.

Carly looked up from said food. "Why not?" She asked.

"Never knew my parents. For all I know they could be dead, lost me, or abandoned me...I don't know. It could've been an accident, but who knows? It's a bit hard to find people without anything to go on." He answered casually as continued staring at the food.

Carly mentally slapped herself. Of course he wouldn't know! He is a Common and a lot of them don't have parents! She kept cursing at herself until Yugo piped back up.

"What about yours?" He asked.

Carly stopped her attack on herself to focus. "Why do you want to know?" She questioned curiously.

Yugo shrugged. "Rin and I used to ask each-other a question and then the other person a question next. I kind of just thought we would do that. You know, like a game?"

Carly just smiled. "No harm, in answering then I suppose. They have pretty important jobs to take care of. Just that typical 'busy parents' thing." She answered.

Yugo lifted his gaze from the food to her. "They should be with you." He stated, causing her to become confused. "I mean, if they're parents, they should try to spend time with their children, right? Rin would always say that."

Carly appreciated the concern. She could sense something else in Yugo's voice as he spoke. She couldn't think of exactly what it was, but it would possibly have to do with what he would do if he could see his parents. In the end, he was just a kid. And a kid deserves to know who their parents are.

"Anyway, I know I already asked a question, but can we eat now?"

"Wait until I heat it up!"

Once both of them got food on their own plates, they remained in their original positions, Yugo sitting and eating while Carly stood at the opposite side of the bench, facing him. Yugo looked like he hadn't seen food in weeks by the way he was shoving it in his mouth.

"You want to taste it at least?" She questioned as she put a small piece in her mouth as she continued to watch him eat.

Yugo smiled brightly as he ate. "Oh, I am trust me!" He replied with his mouth full. Carly wasn't even going to bother about telling him about his manners at the table. She decided to just let him eat how he did, as long as he didn't make a mess.

In no time at all, Yugo was done demolishing his food to the bottomless pit that was his stomach and was smiling ear to ear. "That was great! I haven't had food like that in forever! Do you do apple pie?"

Carly laughed nervously. "Well no. I don't really make deserts." She answered.

Yugo pouted at that news and rested his chin on the bench surface. "Oh..." He said in disappointment. "That's sad."

Carly frowned. "Sorry, I don't take requests." She told him.

"Well, it's not like it would be anything against Rin's. Whenever we could, we would make it. Well, she would make it, I would eat the ingredients."

"You keep mentioning this Rin person. I'm guessing she's your friend." Carly mentioned.

"Yep! We've been together since we were kids! She's my best friend." Yugo replied happily.

Carly laughed. "My next guess was that she was like...your guardian or something. Seeing how she gives you all of this advice and all that."

Yugo returned to his pout. "Gee, thanks..." He muttered.

"I'm kidding." Carly told him with a smile. "Okay, remember our deal though? You have to tell me how you did that."

Yugo lifted his head from the bench and reached his hand into one of his pockets. He pulled out a card and showed it to her. "This is my Clear Wing Synchro Dragon. It leads me to places." He explained.

Carly blinked. "Your...Duel Monsters card?" She asked.

Yugo nodded. "Yeah, sometimes it'll do this...glow thing and I'll just end up somewhere else. I think it's trying to get me to Rin."

"You lost me."

Yugo's face turned serious. "It all started the night Rin was kidnapped, that's how I came to that answer. It's not just a coincidence."

Carly's eyes widened. "Kidnapped? Why didn't you-?"

"Do you really think that anyone would help a Common that could possibly have that kind of power?" Yugo asked, Carly shutting her mouth. "Besides, it's pretty unbelievable as it is. No one would believe me, I mean, you proved that."

Carly bit her lip in thought. "Well...maybe let me know the rest and then we will talk about unbelievable things."

Yugo sighed before continuing. "I uh...I don't know how to explain it...I found the person who took her away, but...I don't know what happened..."

Carly tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Yugo shook his head. "I don't even know. I found him, we started duelling...but there's...I can't think of how it ended. I-I...I think someone else was there...yeah, there was...um..." Yugo tried to explain, thinking as he spoke. "I don't know what happened. I think something went down with him though. I then just...got back here. I don't know if it was Clear Wing or something like that, but it just felt...weird."

Carly stared at him as he struggled to put his words together. The kid sounded like he had quite the blank in his memory. But by his explanation, he didn't really understand a lot of the situation himself.

Yugo tried to remember as much as he possibly could, but all that was there was he was duelling one moment, and it was over the next. He would've been more comfortable knowing what happened. He wondered if Rin's kidnapper knew what happened during that blank.

The reporter grabbed Yugo's completely cleared plate along with her own and took them over to the sink and began to wash them up. "You know what," She began. "I think I should be okay with finding another story."

Yugo looked back up and gave her a look of total confusion. "Why? I thought you needed something to keep your job or something. Don't you believe my story?" He asked sceptically.

Carly shook her head. "That's not it. I mean, sure it's hard to believe such a thing, but I've been a reporter for a long time. I can tell a lot of the time when a person is telling the truth. You don't seem like someone who would be able to make up something that complicated, blanks in your memory or not. Besides, I know when to draw a line, this is the kidnapping of someone really close to you, after all. I don't want to write about this. It seems like this is really important to you and I don't want anything to happen because of my story. You deserve that at least."

Yugo blinked. "Well, if you say so, but I did eat your food."

Carly finished washing the plates up and left them to dry on their own and walked back over to Yugo. "Don't worry about it. If someone's hungry, I'll feed them. This whole Commons versus Tops thing has been getting really out of hand. If I could write about it, I would." She stated as she folded her arms.

"Well, why don't you? Seems very gentle compared to what us Commons have to put up with." Yugo asked with malice.

Carly took an interest in the ground all of the sudden. "Unfortunately, the Tops are very powerful people. If they see something that they don't like, then even a person like me could get put in a bad position. Could be something like making me lose my reputation, then my job, then no one would hire me or it could be worse. I'm just going off of rumours I've heard."

"Oh." Is all Yugo could say in reply. So even people who weren't living in the slums could get in serious trouble because of the Tops...he couldn't help but to feel sort of bad for Carly at that moment.

"But," Carly continued with a smirk. "I will look for the truth. If anything weird happens, I'll let you know."

"Really?" Yugo asked in surprise. It was weird that someone who wasn't from the slums was offering to help him.

Carly nodded. "Yep! If there's something going on, I'll definitely find out the truth. It's kind of my job. But we will have this just between us. It could get risky."

Yugo gave her a questioning look. "You sound like you know what you're doing..." He informed her, to which she chuckled at.

"Well, I often go to great lengths for a story. It's just what I do." She replied.

Yugo shrugged. "Well it makes sense. Thanks anyway! You're the first person to help me out with this!" He told her with a large smile, Carly replying with her own smile.

"Just come over here sometime and I'll give you information if I find something interesting." She said.

Yugo nodded. "Yeah! And if we need to, we can use my D-Wheel to get to faraway places to find something!" He suggested.

"No! We're walking!"

"You're a party pooper!"

"And you're crazy!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Ahh, okay! So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It's the longest one so far! We should be returning to Yuto in the next chapter so never fear! I just like writing different characters every so often as it prevents me from getting writer's block and a lack of motivation. But I think I've been doing well with updating. So far every Sunday or so I've updated, so I guess this is a little entertainment to fill in that Arc-V void for your Sundays, oops.**

 **Okay, so I got to address that I'm making huge changes to a lot of things. Especially after the ending, I figured out a lot of things in need of change. I'm not going to be too specific right now, but trust me, I'm changing so much.**

 **Poor Shun though...I'm praying I wrote him okay. I mean, he cares a lot about his sister and I can only imagine how he felt in the canon. Thinking about it, Shun really didn't have a lot, so even the thought of losing the only other important person to him is quite...I don't know how to put it, but it's a really sad thought. I would even bet that Shun could get even more emotional about it, cough, cough, episode 148, cough, cough. (Dang, that shade I just threw)**

 **I hope that no one's upset that I chose a character to give a cameo to. I personally loved Carly so much and I thought she could be a great way to flow this chapter naturally, as well as the last couple of chapters have for the most part been upsetting so I needed to write something decently happy. Plus she may or may not have other purposes as well.**

 **With all that being said, please leave a review! I absolutely love to read them! They get me motivated to write more chapters too! I'm pretty curious to see if people will still be interested in this when VRAINS comes out too, so let me know! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Phantom

**Chapter Three: Phantom**

"What exactly happened to Yuya? I need the truth. The whole story."

Yuto shook his head with a sigh. "I...like I said before...I don't know exactly what happened..." He told her, regret evident in his voice.

Yuzu stared at him, not taking her eyes off of him for a moment. The strong look in her eyes remained the entire time she stared, showing that she was still waiting for an answer. Yuto tensed up at the stare, but figured that he would just get it over with. After all, he had already told her about the war and the different dimensions. All there was left was to tell her about her friend.

"Yuya..." Yuto began, feeling the lump in his throat as he began to speak. "He got hit by a blast during a duel."

Yuzu's eyes widened, however, she remained silent, waiting to hear the rest as she noticed that Yuto's story didn't end on that note.

"I didn't think that he looked that injured. He had a few scratches and bruises but it was nothing serious. I thought he looked unhealthily pale though. He didn't...I don't know...it was just like he...faded away..."

Yuzu's mouth opened slightly as the last words of Yuto's story made their way to her ears. First dimensional wars and then people disappearing? It all seemed hard to believe. But, what would Yuto get out of lying to her? There was no gain at all. He also seemed to be very distraught as he spoke. He just had the same look that Yuya would get whenever he was upset about something. She just couldn't find any dishonesty to come from his features.

Yuto continued; his heart sinking as the words came out. "Yuzu, I'm really sorry...that's all I can tell you...it's all that I know...I don't know why that happened..."

"...Yuto, it's okay..." Yuzu mumbled in reply.

Yuto shook his head in disagreement. "No, it's not...he was your friend...and he got involved because of me. I caused his-"

"-Yuto," Yuzu interrupted softly as to not give her father any reason to barge in. "I said it's okay." It was clear, that despite her words, she was upset. Yuto couldn't even help but to notice that there were a few tears welling up in her eyes. "Yuya...Yuya's actions...you sometimes just can't control them..."

"But I could have-"

"-Yuya doesn't stand around and let others get hurt." Yuzu told him. "It goes against everything that his father taught him when he was a kid. There's no way he'd go against it. It's just how he is. He always puts others before himself."

Yuto couldn't help but to hear a soft hitch in Yuzu's voice as she spoke. "I just...I need to sleep on it...if I can..." She told him in just under a whisper.

Yuto's guilt came back once again. He felt awful every time that this girl showed signs of crying. Perhaps more so then he usually would've. However, he found it was all his fault. He managed to convince himself of that a while ago. Yuya got involved because of him.

Yuzu laid down on her side, facing away from Yuto as her shoulders shook up and down, silent sobs becoming ever so present. Yuto just decided to leave her be, and allow her to get some rest. He never thought of himself as someone who was good at cheering people up. He needed to get his own rest if the guilt of what happened that night didn't keep him up.

He just hoped that there was a way he could make it up to her...

* * *

Yuto awoke on the mattress, feeling like he didn't get a wink of sleep. It was pretty normal. He often found that since Academia had attacked Heartland, he was unable to truly get a good night's rest. He was lucky to get about five or so hours without waking from a nightmare or him being a light sleeper. He stared at the ceiling for a long period of time in thought.

He thought of himself as lucky to have someone as kind as Yuzu offer him hospitality. He was truly grateful, after all, she had a lot of stuff just landing on her plate, and yet, she still wanted to help him. Yuzu reminded him so much of Ruri in that sense; it was almost painful to look at her. And yet, he delighted her company. Such kindness was hard to find back in Heartland, so he enjoyed her company, although, he wished that the circumstances were different.

He slowly sat up, not wanting to feel a sharp pain in case his side was still hurt. He managed without too much difficulty. The pain was almost completely gone. Yuto sighed in relief. Now there were no setbacks. That was good news if anything.

He glanced over to Yuzu's bed to find that she was no longer there. She must've been incredibly quiet as she didn't interrupt Yuto's sleep. He then glanced at her open bedroom door, light peering in the room from the crack. Yuto blinked and stood up, deciding to look for her to help her out in some way. After leaving the room, it didn't take too much searching to find her hovering over the stove in the kitchen. She must've heard him walk into the room as she glanced over her shoulder to see him.

"Good morning, Yuto!" She called out. Yuto raised a brow. She seemed to be in a better mood now. Perhaps it was because there was a large possibility that she was a morning person. But, he couldn't help but to notice how her movements looked...perhaps 'robotic' was the right word to put it. Like she was simply just doing a routine. "Do you like bacon and eggs?" She asked, facing the pan over the stove.

Yuto blinked. "Yuzu, you don't have to, I-"

"It's fine." She interrupted. Yuto was noticing a regular pattern with the pink-haired girl doing that lately. "I made extra anyway. I started making them and then dad left, I think he's picking up a few things from the store or something like that. So, there's plenty."

Yuto couldn't help but to allow the corners of his lips curve upwards. "Thank you, Yuzu." He said gratefully.

Yuzu laughed. "Yeah, but do you like them?" She asked again.

Yuto shrugged. "Probably. I don't mind what it is." He answered. Living in Heartland where many resources were scarce, he had learned to adapt to take what he could get. There was, after all, no point in being picky where it's either a slightly bad aftertaste, or starving.

Yuzu finished up with making the breakfast, giving both of the plates nearby on the counter even portions of food. She picked up both plates and put them on the kitchen table, sitting down in a chair with a plate in front. She motioned for Yuto to sit down at the table, to which he didn't argue about, quietly sitting down in the chair next to her.

"Thank you for the food. I appreciate it." He told her gratefully.

Yuzu smiled warmly at him. "It's no trouble, Yuto. Just let me know if you want more." She replied sweetly.

Yuto glanced down at his plate. Compared to what he was used to, this was a feast. He really couldn't think of a way to thank Yuzu enough. That brought him to the thought of how Shun was doing with the food rations he had. He hoped that it would be enough to keep him going. Though, he really wasn't sure if Shun doing what he was doing was such a good idea in the first place.

The pair began to eat, both having overall well manners while doing so. For the most part, they sat and ate in silence. It seemed like neither of them knew how to make things less awkward. Yuto wasn't much of a conversation starter, but he felt the need to ask her something.

"Are you ok?" He asked quietly. Yuzu stopped eating her food to stare at him.

"Am I ok?" She echoed as she raised a brow.

Yuto nodded. "After..." He trailed off, thinking that Yuzu would get the point. Her eyes widened slightly.

"I'm...I don't know..." She admitted as she shook her head slowly. "I mean, it was a lot to take in...it's...difficult to imagine. I don't know what I would do without Yuya, but..."

Yuto understood. She wasn't sure how to feel because she doesn't completely understand. After all, fading away was something that didn't happen too often...

Unless...

He didn't know how to put it. He was able to think of a possible answer as to why he just disappeared. But at the same time, he didn't want to get the poor girl's hopes up for nothing. Then again, he didn't want to see her confused and suffering because of what happened. She at least deserved a little hope.

After a moment, the words were finally able to escape from his lips. "I think...I think that there might be something we can do." He spoke.

Yuzu blinked at him, hope shimmering in her blue eyes. "What..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "What is it?"

Yuto took in a small breath before going on. "There's something strange about his disappearance. Maybe, maybe he was sent somewhere else."

Yuzu continued to stare at Yuto, thought written all over her face before an expression of realisation hit her. "Sent somewhere else? Do you mean like...like another dimension?"

Yuto folded his arms as he crossed one of his legs over the other. "It's just an idea. Maybe he was, though I can't confirm anything at this point." He told her truthfully.

Yuzu placed a thumb and finger under her chin delicately. "No...no it makes sense. If this whole situation is truly happening...then that means that there is a chance! Do you think he was sent to Fusion?" She asked, the hope obvious in her voice, Yuto regretting the mention of it just a little.

"Or Synchro." He said. "That's where the Pawn of Fusion is from after all. And he has different ways of jumping from dimension to dimension. So, he could be capable of anything for all we know."

Yuzu's face then grew worried. "But...but something that just doesn't make sense is why they would want Yuya. He had nothing to do with this up until last night."

Yuto shrugged. "I don't know. Fusion has a goal and we know that they would do anything to achieve it. It's like why they would need Ruri instead of carding her. None of it makes sense." At the thought of it, Yuto's whole body stiffened up. Why was it that innocent people were constantly being dragged into something involving Academia? It was just not humane.

Yuzu bit her lip before speaking up again. "Well, there's that chance, right?" She mentioned. "Yuya wouldn't go down so easily. I'm sure that we'll find him!"

Yuto smiled for a moment before realising what the girl said. "Wait, 'we'?" He repeated with a raised brow.

Yuzu nodded seriously. "Yeah, 'we'." She told him. "I'm going to fix this."

Yuto shook his head. "No, Yuzu, that's too dangerous." He told her seriously.

Yuzu frowned. "Yuto, like I've been saying, this isn't just between you and Fusion. This is also now involving me too. It's the same situation that happened with Ruri the way I see it. And I think we should work together to reach our common goals." She reasoned logically.

Yuto still wouldn't accept it and once again shook his head in refusal. "You can't go. I'm sorry Yuzu, but I'm not putting you or anyone else in any unnecessary danger."

Yuzu stood up, her chair's legs dragging against the floor. "Sorry, Yuto. But with all due respect, you haven't even seen me duel yet. You don't know what I am and what I'm not capable of." She told him firmly, taking him slightly off guard; however, he managed to maintain his composure.

"I'm not willing to test that in a battlefield, Yuzu." He replied just as firmly.

Yuzu narrowed her brows. "Okay then. How about we test that now then?" She suggested. Well, more like challenged.

Yuto blinked. "Yuzu-"

"You want to know what I can do? How about we do it now then?" She continued.

Yuto sighed. This girl was definitely something else. He of course could understand what it was she was going through, but she had to realise that Fusion was not a place to be messed with.

Just then, the two jumped slightly at the sound of a telephone ringing. Yuzu muttered something under her breath before walking off to pick up the phone, to which Yuto unconsciously listened to.

"Hello?" She asked as she picked it up, not too long afterwards she had a panicked look on her face. "A-Ah! Mrs. Sakaki! How are you?" She asked, laughing nervously.

Sakaki? Yuto couldn't help but to wonder; wasn't that name...?

Yuzu paused for a moment as she listened to the woman on the phone. "Yuya?" She asked as she looked like she was searching for something. "Um...well, sorry for not calling about that!" She quickly apologised. "We just decided to go back to my house afterwards! We were...we were practicing and we both kind of fell asleep! Sorry about that!"

Yuto's eyes widened. So, assuming that this woman was Yuya's mother, Yuzu just told a huge lie about said woman's son. He was in a completely different place. Yuto couldn't believe what kind of hole Yuzu was slowly digging herself.

"Eh?" Yuzu said after another long pause. "Um...yeah, I can pass on the message, he's still tired, so he can't come to the phone at the moment...Uhm...sure thing! Thanks for being okay with it all, Mrs. Sakaki! Bye!" She finished as she quickly hung up.

Yuzu paced herself back to the table where Yuto was still sitting, his eyes widened. "Okay, before saying anything, please hear me out!" Yuzu told him in a panicked voice.

"You...lied to the mother about someone who is missing? And that person is her own son?" Yuto stated.

"I said to hear me out!" Yuzu repeated. "Look, I didn't know what else I could say! There's so much going on right now so I couldn't think of anything else to say! I didn't have the time to make up an excuse. Besides...besides, there's no way I could tell a mother that...I can't even completely believe it yet. And even if your idea is right, there's no way she would believe that."

Yuto sighed. He honestly could understand what Yuzu was dealing with. It would've been a difficult task for someone who was so close to Yuya to tell a parent about something so serious. He completely understood. However, that meant that she would have to tell them soon.

"But, there's bad news..." Yuzu told him. "She wants Yuya to be back this afternoon..."

Yuto bit his lip. That _was_ bad. There was no chance of that being able to work. It was simply impossible.

"Not only that...but Yuya is still in the tournament..." Yuzu added. Yuto nodded. It was true. People are going to notice if he was gone.

Yuzu picked up her plate from the table and stared down at it sadly. "I just..." She sighed. "I just feel bad. Knowing he won't be able to continue with it. He worked so hard to get to that point. And if he's missing...people will think of him as they do his father..."

Yuto's curiosity suddenly peaked. "What do they think of his father?" He asked.

Yuzu glanced back at him. "They think of him as a coward." She answered, Yuto blinking at this. "He was set to duel the current champion at the time, but never showed up. And since then, Yuya had to deal with a lot. He had to put up with people picking on him and his father. It was lucky that he had Noboru though."

Yuto took a sudden interest in the table, staring at it for what felt like hours. Maybe...this was the chance to take away some of that guilt. Maybe he could make some of it up to both Yuya and Yuzu. He glanced back up at her.

"When is Yuya's next round?" He asked, taking Yuzu aback.

"Um..." She began in thought. "I think...I think it's the day after tomorrow? But why-?"

"I have to make it up to him." Yuto told her. "I just don't...I don't think my feelings will be resolved otherwise."

Yuzu's eyes widened. "Yuto, are you suggesting that you'll...that you'll take Yuya's place?" She asked in shock, almost dropping her plate. Yuto nodded.

Yuzu stared at him for a moment. "Well...I'm not sure. I mean, you look like him...but then there's the hair and different duelling styles...besides, wouldn't your friend Shun be looking for you?"

Yuto stood up from his chair. "That's another reason. Shun is in the tournament. I need to talk to him face-to-face about something. But other than that...we must be able to do something...Yuzu, you have to let me take this guilt away."

Yuzu's lips pursed tightly together. "Yuto...are you...are you sure about this?" She asked softly, trying to hide her shock. Yuto nodded once again. Yuzu nodded back and placed her plate back onto the table. "I think that I have some solutions then...if you're up to doing them." Another nod from Yuto.

Yuto couldn't expect the next thing that happened. Yuzu wrapped her arms around his neck and began to sob into his shoulder. "Thank you!" She sobbed. "Thank you so much for doing this, Y-Yuto!"

Yuto smiled at her. He was glad that the tears that she shed were those of happiness, and gratefulness and not those of sadness. He couldn't explain how it felt to do her this favour. He allowed her to continue and let it out. There was no point in her holding it in. Her sobs continued for maybe a minute or two before she realised that she was holding onto him for such a long time and quickly untangled her arms from around his neck.

"Um...s-sorry about that..." She quickly apologised as she made no time to wipe away the remaining tears that lurked on her cheeks and eyes. "I didn't mean to do that, it's just...I really appreciate it, Yuto..."

Yuto kept the warm smile on his face. "It's the least I can do. It's completely fine." He told her.

Yuzu stared at him for a moment. "I know I keep bringing it up but...even your smile..." She said as her own smile grew

Yuto got the picture with that rather quickly. "I can say the same about you..." He replied.

Yuzu giggled. "Ruri must be pretty important to you." She noted.

Yuto scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah..." He answered. "Yeah, she is."

Yuzu grabbed his wrist. "Well, the sooner we get around to this, the sooner we can reunite the love birds!" She said casually as she began to drag him to her room.

"Love birds?" He asked in surprise. "No, we aren't-"

"Yuto, I never expected someone as calm and collected as yourself to get embarrassed over such a thing!" Yuzu joked. "Don't worry, I won't say those things often! So don't try my jokes on me!"

Yuto faked a cough to somehow change the subject in order to hide that embarrassment. He didn't even want to mention her and Yuya, as he had a feeling that that paper fan that she proudly spoke of somehow wouldn't tickle. Huh, that was a strange thought.

After he had been dragged up to Yuzu's room, once again he might add, he waited at the doorframe as he watched her go through a box that she pulled out of her closet. Yuto made a mental note of how physically strong she was as she pulled something out. She looked over her shoulder to Yuto and motioned for him to come over, with him doing so, kneeling down next to her.

"Look!" She told him. "Answer number one!"

"Not to sound rude, Yuzu, but explain how this is an answer." Yuto said patiently, Yuzu pouting at him.

"It's going to help with the hair, okay?"

The thing that Yuzu was practically shoving looked almost exactly like the school jacket that Yuya wore as a cape, except that this one was by far longer and came with its own hood.

"Why do you have this?" Yuto asked curiously.

Yuzu rolled her eyes. "Yuya left this here a while ago, and I told him he wasn't getting it back until he picked it up himself. I'm trying to get him to stop being lazy and do it."

"Ah, that...that makes sense." Yuto replied.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure step one is pretty good, huh?" She asked him. Yuto stared at her.

"Are you sure people won't notice?" He asked sceptically.

Yuzu shrugged. "Shingo Sawatari didn't." She mentioned. Yuto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "The guy from LDS who I was about to duel and then you showed up."

"Oh, him." Yuto said as he remembered the boy. "But even so, what are we doing about-"

"-The duelling? I got that covered too!" She interrupted – again – as she gave Yuto the new piece of clothing and stood up, walking over to her bedside table. Yuto narrowed his eyes at getting cut off by the girl again, but once again, let it slide as they were on the same page.

Yuzu came back with a deck in her hands along with something else. She held the deck out to him. "I'm going to teach you about Yuya's deck, and his duelling style." She announced.

Yuto carefully took the deck out of her hands and glanced through the cards and then back to her with an unsure look all over his face. "Are you sure that I can learn that in such a short period of time?" He asked.

Yuzu nodded. "You'll have me teaching you, trust me! I know his deck really well! I've looked at how he Pendulum summons and I've seen his entertainment style from the front seats, I think we will be okay."

Yuto still looked unsure. He wasn't sure if he could do the whole 'entertainment style' thing that Yuzu kept mentioning. He felt like he wouldn't be able to focus well if he tried to please everyone else. It sounded like a lot of extra effort that Yuya was willing to put in.

"Okay...maybe we will just stick to the deck?" Yuzu suggested sheepishly. Yuto nodded quickly at that idea. "Okay then, I think the first thing you need to know about is Yuya's ace monster!"

"His dragon, correct?" Yuto asked. Yuzu blinked but then nodded. "Yeah, it should be in there somewhere."

Once the pair had located said card, Yuto pulled it from the deck to get a closer look.

Odd Eyes Pendulum Dragon.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the card had just put him at ease. There was no way he could explain it in words, but the card comforted him in a sense. Maybe it wouldn't be all bad.

"I can see that you've taken an interest." Yuzu noted slyly. "No wonder though, for one thing it's a Pendulum monster. So, you're going to have a lot of fun learning about all of these effects. To say the least, it's really powerful if you use it right."

"I see..." Yuto said as he stared at it. He could tell that there was definitely something powerful about the card; it gave off a similar vibe like that of his Dark Rebellion. Even that of the Pawn of Fusion's card. He couldn't help but to think if he thought of it that way that it would make him uneasy. It just reminded him that he was still out there. He was out there while Yuzu and Yuya suffered. It made him sick to think about if he was being honest.

Yuzu's smile grew. "Yuto..." She began, gaining Yuto's attention. "There's also this."

Yuto blinked as Yuzu leaned closer towards him and put something around his neck. When Yuzu moved back, he looked down to see the pendulum that Yuya was wearing when they met.

...Pendulum...

" _Just like a pendulum, the more you push, the more it comes back."_

Yuto shook the thought off. He had to focus on what was happening.

"Yuya would always wear it. It was the last thing he got from his father before he left." Yuzu told him.

Yuto stared at her with widened eyes. "Then why would you give it to me?" He asked in awe. Something so important...it just didn't feel right to him to have such an item.

"Well...to be completely honest..." Yuzu began. "I'm not entirely sure myself. I guess it just feels right to me for you to have it. At least until we find Yuya. And then, he'll know that you looked after it for him. I think...I think that it's for the best."

Yuto didn't know how to feel. Honoured? Grateful? He didn't know. Perhaps there were too many emotions to be able to tell? He couldn't believe that he was being trusted with something important like what someone else holds the most precious.

"Thank you for trusting me." Yuto told her, still staring down at the pendulum. Yuzu nodded and the pair sat there in silence as Yuto tried to take it all in.

"But anyway, I'll make sure that you'll get this for the most part down so that you can practice tonight." Yuzu told him, taking the pendulum off the topic and thus breaking the silence.

Yuto stopped staring at the pendulum and back to Yuzu. "Tonight?" He asked.

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, remember...?" She asked before hesitantly continuing. "Yoko Sakaki kind of wanted Yuya back this afternoon?"

Yuto almost dropped the cards in his hands at this.

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Okay, there's another one done! I know that it is taking a while to get to the first duel, but it will be coming! I just wanted to set up the story and all that first so I don't start the duels too early.**

 **Speaking of duels, I have an important poll on my account regarding duels for this story. Mainly referring to if I should use the Japanese or English TCG names. Because I feel like I should use the Japanese, but also at the same time, I don't know how well you all would know the names. I mainly know the English myself and it may be a little easier to write, but if I were to try to be consistent? I don't know how to put it, but it's something I need to think about.**

 **With that, I'm going to wait a week or so to allow the poll to be finished from this point just so everyone has the chance to get to it! (Also thanks to the person who already has, yay!)**

 **But, I'm really excited to write the next chapter, you all have no idea. Commence my evil laughter. (It's actually not going to be that bad guys, don't worry!)**

 **Also, kudos to everyone who reads the manga and got the title. The beginning of I guess this 'Phantom' starts now!**

 **With that all being said, please review! I would love to know what you all think! Each review honestly means the world to me, and thank you to everyone who has done so up to this point! I really appreciate it and love hearing the feedback.**


	5. Intuition

**Chapter Four: Intuition**

He couldn't help but to gulp as he stood outside the Sakaki household. Sure, Yuzu was right by him to help him out, but it was still...terrible, to act as a person who's missing, especially towards a mother.

Yuzu glanced at him nervously. "Are you alright?" She asked.

He shrugged. "As much as I can be." He replied.

Yuzu stared at him in concern as he pulled gently at his – or Yuya's – new cloak uncomfortably. It wasn't the material that made him so uncomfortable, however. It was the fact that it wasn't his and it would assist in this whole idea. She smiled for a moment before pulling something over the surprised boy's head and onto his neck, messing around with his hair slightly. Yuto could feel something like a strap make its way above his ears, raising an eyebrow. Yuzu finished up with his hair and backed away from him.

Yuto felt for what it was that was just placed on him. He blinked as he felt a familiar shape on his head. "Are these goggles?" He asked.

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, I thought that it would add to the whole look." She stated. "It fooled me after all."

"Where did you get these?"

Yuzu shrugged. "I make a lot of stage costumes. I pick up whatever I can find. And Yuya insisted that I should buy some, saying that they're 'cool'." She explained.

Yuto just accepted the answer as he pulled the hood over his head, readying himself for whatever could happen. He wasn't sure how this could go. According to Yuzu, she would teach him more about action fields and such the next day for a few hours, and the day after is the day that Yuya was supposed to duel in the championship. So, luckily, he wouldn't be spending unreasonable hours with Yuya's mother, but even so, it would be difficult trying to convince her that he was Yuya.

"Just remember what I told you Yuto," Yuzu began. "Yoko used to be in a gang with a motorcycle, so if you see it, don't touch it, and if she asks you what you want for breakfast, you want pancakes."

Yuto blinked. "It's rather random information..." He told her. Yuzu pouted at him.

"Well, that's all I have for now," She told him firmly, before calming down. "Either way, if you have any problems, you have my number. I'll help you as much as I can." Yuto nodded nervously as Yuzu scratched the back of her neck nervously. "And...I'm sorry about all of this. I know that it's a lot of trouble."

Yuto shook his head. "It's...it's fine..." He replied softly. "I owe it to Yuya. He helped me. I have to repay him for that."

Yuzu smiled brightly and nodded. "Right!" She agreed. They both made their way to the door, to be greeted by the sound of barking. Yuto stopped midway to ringing the doorbell to glance at Yuzu as the barking continued. "Um...did I forget to mention that Yoko has a habit of picking up strays?" She asked, laughing nervously at the boy's stare. Yuto sighed.

"At least it's a dog..." He said so quietly it was almost a whisper, though, Yuzu could still hear.

"And a cat..." Yuzu added awkwardly.

Yuto frowned at the mention of a cat. Not that he hated them of anything, of course. They were great and all, just not around him.

"You don't like cats?" Yuzu questioned.

"They don't like me." He corrected. "They follow a person in Xyz everywhere they go, and they don't really celebrate the sight of me." He finished as he finally pushed the doorbell, hearing the tune go off in the house.

"Wow, I thought you had no faults, but here we are." She told him with a smirk.

"We all have our weaknesses." Yuto stated. "I'm just a dog person..." He trailed off.

Yuzu noticed a sad look in Yuto's eye, but didn't question it. That look explained the whole story. It was better off trying not to pry him about it.

The door finally opened and with that, a small white and brown dog emerged, jumping around Yuto on its back legs excitedly. Yuto couldn't help but to smile at the small dog, and for once, was almost distracted by it. Well, he was distracted enough not to notice Yuya's mother at the door for a split moment before looking back up.

Gang leader? She looked sweet enough. Yuto supposed that was because it must've been a long time ago, possibly having a kid made her set her priorities to other things. But either way, Yuto had to remember to not judge a book by its cover. Whether it was now or in the past, this woman was still a gang leader at some point in time.

"Ah, welcome back Yuzu, Yuya." She greeted warmly. "This must be what En was barking at. He must have really missed you, Yuya."

En? That was the dog's name he guessed, unless there were other dogs hanging around the house that Yuzu forgot to mention.

"Yeah, probably." He said awkwardly with a shrug.

Yuzu then piped in. "We spent a lot of time practicing, so he's still pretty tired from all of that. He gets pretty into it all."

Yoko blinked and folded her arms with a sigh. "Well, don't overdo it before it's your turn to duel. You don't want to pass out in the middle of it." She told Yuto.

He nodded. "Right." He replied. Yuzu gave him a strange look, but Yuto tried to ignore it. He didn't know what to do in such an awkward situation.

Yoko glanced towards Yuzu. "Did you want to come in?" She asked.

Yuto secretly prayed that she would. She was really, _really_ good at making things up on the spot, it would help so much more than just messaging or calling her every time he didn't know what to say.

She looked at the ground below her feet. "Um, maybe next time." She told Yoko. "I need to do a few things. Thanks anyway though!" She said quietly. "Uh, see you guys around!" She called as she quickly spun around and made her way back to the direction of her own house.

Yuto glanced at the direction the she left sadly. She must need a moment alone with her thoughts. It was no wonder why though. His own being there must have reminded Yuzu too much of Yuya, even with the possible chance that he was still around. He decided to leave her be. It would be best if she could let it all out when she needed to, rather than bottling everything up for such a long time.

"Is something wrong with Yuzu?" Yoko asked in concern. Yuto turned back to face her.

"Maybe it's about Sora...?" He suggested.

Sora...?

Yoko sighed. "With him being in the hospital after his duel, and then suddenly disappearing I hear. I hope he's ok. Nothing like that should happen to a kid his age." She said.

Sora was the blue-haired kid that worked for Fusion. Yeah, that seemed right. He recalled Yuya saying his name a few times during the duel that they fought on that night, but he couldn't help but to wonder why it came so naturally to him to say something like that.

"Yeah..." Yuto agreed with a nod. "It shouldn't."

Yeah, brainwashing a kid to card innocent people shouldn't happen. Yuto couldn't help but to wonder how young these people at Fusion were being trained at. It didn't matter. At this point, they're the enemy. It shouldn't matter about their age.

Even so, he didn't want to resolve the problem with violence. That was not the way to go about it, he had to prove that to Shun.

...Shun...

Still not a call from him. It worried him that he wouldn't even send a message or something like that. He would've had to have gotten over it, right? Possibly. Even Yuto wasn't too sure about it. If it involved Ruri, Shun would never stop. Even if it meant...

"Well, come on in, I'm going to start preparing dinner." She told him, changing the subject, and breaking Yuto out of his thoughts. Yuto followed Yoko inside, taking his shoes off at the door and shutting the door behind him once En had followed him inside. He almost jumped when he saw a white cat sitting in the middle of the hallway, but remained calm. The cat looked almost like it was...glaring at him or something?

"Core has been in a foul mood since you left too." Yoko mentioned as she passed the cat. "I guess all the animals miss you, and I, the one who only took them in and gave them shelter, am chopped liver." She joked.

En and Core...

Wait...

That was a pun, wasn't it? Encore, he got it. He had to wonder if Yuya did the naming or if one of his parents were in charge of that. Either way, Core, did _not_ like him.

Then there was En, on the other hand, who couldn't stop jumping all over his legs. Yuto eventually gave in to En's wishes and picked him up. He couldn't help but to smile at the dog. "Hey En." He said quietly. The dog yipped happily at finally getting his way in being picked up. Yuto sighed. Too bad that he was a dog person. He was already feeling an attachment to the little guy.

Core looked as if he was shaking his head and left the hallway to follow Yoko into the kitchen. Yuto let out a breath of air, knowing that Core wouldn't be trying to claw at him. Did he act this way around Yuya? Didn't seem like it. Yoko mentioned something about the cat being in a mood anyway.

While Yuto was in his thoughts, En took the opportunity to lick his cheek, causing Yuto to push his arms out further in order to stop the dog from licking his face more. "En..." He mumbled. The dog tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Great...first that cat was onto him and now so is the dog...that was certainly wonderful...

Not that En seemed to mind too much, as long as he was getting attention, he seemed to be happy either way. And Yuto thought that dogs were supposed to be loyal.

After a moment of En trying to get back to his face, Yuto put the dog down on the floor and gave him a quick pet on the head before making his way to the kitchen where Yoko was.

"I hope you don't mind lamb tonight, Yuya!" She said as she began to prepare the meat. Yuto shook his head.

"That's fine." He answered. Like with breakfast, he would take anything. He just hoped it wasn't something too big. He was so used to rations with the situation in Xyz, that he wasn't sure of exactly how much he would be able to stomach. The breakfast seemed enough for him in his opinion anyway.

He told himself to suck it up and just prepare himself for it. Just eat as much as possible.

"Do you need any help?" He asked. Yoko glanced up from the lamb that she was getting ready to look at Yuto with an odd look, but quickly replaced it with a smile.

"It's fine Yuya." She told him. "Remember the last time you tried to help? You would have burned the house down if I wasn't with you."

Yuto blinked. Of course he wouldn't remember an event that he was not present for. He sighed in defeat. "Sounds fair." He said as he began to walk off.

He wasn't too sure of how long he could pull the whole facade off for. It wasn't even ten minutes and he already felt himself inwardly freaking out. He couldn't pull off someone like Yuya! He knew next to nothing about the kid! Aside from little things that Yuzu told him, Yuto didn't know what Yuya did around the house. Did he have chores? Did he stay in his room a lot?

Speaking of which, where was Yuya's room?

He walked around the house for a short period of time, soon discovering the second floor, which he guessed was where all of the bedrooms were located. He eventually found his way to a semi-organised room and judged by all of the entertainment related things that it used to be Yuya's room. He strolled in and looked around. He was actually impressed. Judging by Yuya's attitude, Yuto would never have guessed for his room to be as tidy as it was, with only a few out of place objects, but nothing too big.

Yuto managed to take the time to sit down on Yuya's bed, trying his best to get comfortable, though that would prove to be difficult regarding the whole thing.

He supposed that he would just stay up in Yuya's room until he was needed. It was...odd not doing anything. He found himself fidgeting uncomfortably. He should be out there getting information. But...

He let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry Yuya..." He whispered under his breath.

* * *

By the time that Yoko had finally called him down, it was time to eat. Yuto found himself being unable to eat all of the food on his plate. He felt awful to just waste it, but he just wasn't used to a full plate.

"Hm..." Yoko hummed. "You normally ask for seconds. You aren't getting sick, are you?"

"Uh no..." Yuto answered as he shook his head. "I'm fine, just not hungry tonight."

Yoko gave him a worried look before taking his plate and putting the leftovers into a bowl and began to wash the dishes. Yuto stood up and walked up to her. "Do you want me to do that?" He asked.

Yoko stared at him. Yuto bit his lip nervously at this. Did he say something wrong? He wasn't used to not helping out with anything, it just felt wrong to let everyone else do the work. Yoko placed a hand onto Yuto's forehead which was still covered by the hood. Yuto flinched slightly at the touch but knew if he tried to stop her, she would probably pull it off. She blinked, followed by a sigh as she brought her hand back.

"You don't seem to be sick..." Yoko mumbled. "Are you ok?"

Yuto glanced down at the ground. There was just something about mothers. They always had this...thing that went off in their heads whenever a kid wasn't feeling well, and sometimes it doesn't even have to be their own kid, they just know.

"I'm fine." He replied. "I guess I'm a little nervous..."

Yoko stopped the tap to give Yuto her full attention. "Nervous?" She asked in concern.

"For the tournament, I guess..." He explained. Technically, he wasn't lying. He was beyond nervous for that, even just this was enough to make him a little worried.

Yoko remained silent for a long time before finally speaking again. "Well, how about you get some rest? Maybe that will help you out." She suggested.

"But-"

"Don't worry about it; it's just a few dishes." She assured. "Go and relax."

Yuto uncomfortably shifted away and made his way back up to the familiar bedroom. At least if he did something, he would be able to take his mind off of a few things. But since he did next to nothing, he kept having thoughts in his head. He would normally be used to that, but...it was just different.

"Maybe I do need rest..." He said quietly to himself as he shifted himself onto the bed. It seems like that was just a place for him to think as time slowly passed by him.

Yuto groaned. This was going to be the longest night of his life...

* * *

" _Yu..."_

Yuto rolled onto his side as he tried to block out the noise and hopefully fall back to his surprisingly relaxing sleep. The noise had been bothering him for quite a while, and hoped it wasn't an oncoming nightmare about Heartland again.

" _-to! Yuto!"_

Yuto continued to ignore the noise that attempted to disturb his sleep. His rest was going so well for once, and something was trying to wake him up or something.

" _Yuto! I need you to know that I'm-!"_

Yuto's eyes shot open before the voice could finish whatever it was saying. He quickly sat up and looked around the room. No one was there.

Yep. Nightmare.

But that one seemed quite different than to what he was used to. He didn't remember any of that happening. That voice...it was too distorted to figure out. It seemed to be trying to plead with him or something like that.

"Just ignore it." He told himself.

Aside from whatever that was at the end, his rest ended up being quite relieving. He hadn't felt so rested in such a long time, whatever the reason may be for that, he was glad that he woke up with more energy. Not saying he would begin to jump off the walls, just more energy to do things in general.

He threw his legs over the bed and made his way down to the kitchen, grabbing his duel disk that he left at the foot of the bed on the way. He felt as if this was all that he is going to do over these days. Eat and sleep.

"Good morning." He greeted quietly to Yoko, who was preparing breakfast.

"Good morning!" She parroted. "I know what you might say, but you never know when you will change your mind, but what would you like for breakfast?"

Yuto knew the answer to this question thanks to Yuzu. "Pancakes." He answered. "Please."

Yoko smiled a little before bringing a stacked plate to him. "I thought you would say that, so I made them in advanced."

Yuto raised a brow at the food, staring at it as he sat down in a chair. That...that was a lot of pancakes for one person to consume. Yuto began to wonder if Yuya's stomach was a bottomless pit by the way his mother fed him.

"Uh, thank you." He told her, continuing to stare at the amount of food in front of him. There was no way he could bring himself to eat all of that. That just didn't feel possible to him.

Nevertheless, he slowly began to eat his food in silence, Yoko glancing over to him every so often. She spoke up at last to rid the pair of the awkward silence.

"So, do you have any plans for today?" She asked.

Yuto looked up from the food that he wasn't even anywhere close to finishing. "Well, Yuzu and I were planning on practicing again for our next rounds." He answered. "That's ok, right?"

Yoko nodded. "As long as you two aren't exhausting yourselves." She told him. He nodded in response.

"Yeah." He replied, going back to slowly getting through his pancakes.

Yoko glanced sadly at another chair. "It's funny," She began. "I prepared extra thinking that he would show up again for breakfast like he normally did. Though, with him being missing, that would be difficult. I hope he's ok."

She must have been talking about Sora. Yuto decided to pipe back in. "I'm sure he'll be back for food soon enough." He said.

"Even so," Yoko continued. "That person he duelled. It seems like something was going on between them. I wonder if they know each-other? Either way, that is no way to duel someone."

Yuto decided to remain silent at that comment. He didn't want to say anything else about Sora and Shun, there had already been enough damage caused because of the two of them, and who knows if Shun would somehow find out.

And Sora basically spoke for himself in Yuto's eyes. He understood why Shun acted the way he acted.

Even so...

Yuto's duel disk blinked and stared at the screen for a long period of time, thankful that he finally had a way of getting out of eating all of those pancakes. After reading, he looked back to Yoko.

"May I be excused?" He asked as casually as he possibly could.

Yoko blinked at all of the pancakes that were left over but nodded. "Yuzu, right?" She asked.

Yuto nodded back. "Yeah. It's time for practice." He said. "I'll be back soon."

Yoko waved a goodbye as she watched Yuto leave the house in a hurry. She let out a small sigh when she heard the door shut behind him.

Yuto met Yuzu right outside the household who smiled at him. "That was fast." She commented.

"It wasn't to me." Yuto told her as they began walking. She shook her head.

"Not that." She told him. "I meant just getting out here in general."

Yuto sighed. "Well, I wasn't really into eating that much. I was lucky that you came this early."

Yuzu raised a brow. "What?" She asked. "I mean I know that Yuya's stomach has no bottom, but you at least ate a meal, didn't you?" Yuto remained silent at the question, Yuzu furrowing her eyebrows at him. "Yuto!" She scowled.

"Sorry," He apologised. "I'm just not used to it."

Yuzu sighed, calming down. "Well, it's not like I can force you to eat or anything, but make sure that you're getting enough. I don't want you to suddenly get sick."

"If I've survived three years like this, I think I will manage." He replied, feeling a soft touch on his head soon after. Glancing over to Yuzu, he noticed in her hands...a paper fan?

Oh, that. Right.

It didn't even feel nearly as bad as she made it out to be though.

"Don't look too confident," She told him with a mischievous smirk. "I only used my fan lightly on you because you haven't annoyed me."

Yuto blinked in confusion. "Thank you?" He replied, unsure.

Yuzu giggled. "Anyway, other than the food, how was it?" She asked curiously.

Yuto shrugged. "I...I don't know." He answered. "I guess it wasn't too bad. En was well-behaved."

"Spot the dog person!" Yuzu announced playfully. "And the cat?"

"Core didn't like me at all." Yuto replied.

Yuzu looked more impressed than anything else. "Wow! You remembered their names too! I guess I kind of let that detail slip my mind..."

Yuto sighed. "It wasn't anything big."

"And...?" She continued. "What else...?"

"I slept well."

"Oh, now you're just avoiding a proper answer!"

Yuto shook his head. "No, I slept _well_."

Yuzu seemed to get the picture. "Oh...well then in that case, I retract my statement! I'm glad for you, Yuto!"

The two managed to make it to the You Show Duel School and Yuto watched as Yuzu opened the door. Waiting until she walked in, Yuto quickly followed her inside before she closed the door shut.

"Is anyone else going to be here today?" He asked as he glanced around the building.

Yuzu shook her head. "Nope. We have the place to ourselves today. Dad is busy with the kids most-likely. But that's good, because I'll be able to teach you better this way." She told him with a smile. Yuto nodded. That was probably for the best. After all, Yuya wouldn't suddenly forget how to perform an action duel, so that would have been pretty...odd to watch.

The pair made it into a larger room, where they stopped for a moment. "We will start the lesson here. Pretty fitting since we are in a school and all. I'll just have to turn on the Arc System really quick." Yuzu told him as she ran off somewhere else. Yuto glanced around the room in curiosity. This was definitely going to be different from how they duelled back in Xyz, but he supposed it would probably be useful information.

He waited for a while until eventually the room began to change before Yuto's eyes. It began to look even larger than before and artificial grass, trees and even a sky began to digitalise their way across the room. Everything looked so different, and somehow felt real at the same time.

Yuto wondered if technology would have improved this much in Xyz if they hadn't been caught up in the whole war three years ago. Before long, the whole room was replaced wall-to-wall by the artificial field.

Soon enough, Yuzu ran back in with a smile. "Okay, that's all done now! So are you ready for practice?" She asked.

Yuto shrugged. "As much as I'm going to be, I guess." He answered. He replaced his own deck with Yuya's in his duel disk.

Yuzu smirked in approval. "Good! Then let's start the show!" Yuto nodded in agreement.

"Duel!" The pair shouted.

 **Yuto: LP 4000 (Cards X5)**

 **Yuzu: LP 4000 (Cards X5)**

Yuzu glanced up at Yuto. "I'll allow you with the first move, Yuto!"

Yuto nodded as he scanned the cards in his hand quickly. They were much different to his usual style of duelling, but he supposed that he would have to get used to it if he was to compete as Yuya in the tournament.

"I summon Entermate Discover Hippo in attack mode!"

 **Entermate Discover Hippo: 800 ATK/800 DEF/LVL 3/BEAST**

Yuzu smiled as the familiar pink hippo with its hat appeared onto the field. "I see you're starting off like Yuya too. That's good at least."

Yuto raised a brow before shrugging the thought off. "I set a card and end my turn." He stated as a face down card appeared onto the field.

 **Yuto: LP 4000 (Cards X3)**

"Alright, my turn then! Draw!" The girl drew her card and glanced through her hand and to the monster on Yuto's field. She looked around the field as well and then right back to Yuto.

"Okay, Yuto! I'm going to teach you about action cards this turn!" She declared, getting Yuto's attention. "I summon Aria The Melodious Diva in attack position!"

One of Yuzu's more well-known monsters appeared onto her side of the field, with a lighter shade of pink skin and purple hair.

 **Aria the Melodious Diva: 1600 ATK/1200 DEF/LVL 4/ANGEL**

"I figured that you might have a trap card set, but it still is a good idea to keep your eye out for action cards whenever you're in a jam!" She explained as she pointed to a space behind Yuto. "Make sure that just so you know that you grab yourself an action card this turn!"

Yuto glanced down at his trap card that he had set on his turn, but decided to go with what Yuzu said. It could be helpful every once in a while, though, Yuto wasn't too sure about _too_ much help. Perhaps as a last resort, but, Yuzu had spoken. No point in angering her.

"I attack your Entermate Discover Hippo with Aria The Melodious Diva!" Yuzu declared. Yuto swiftly turned around and quickly grabbed the floating card with the 'A' imprinted on the back. He glanced at it quickly before playing it.

"I play Miracle!" He shouted.

Yuzu nodded happily. "You've got it! Of course, even though your monster is safe, you still take half of the battle damage."

 **Yuto: LP 4000 – 400 = 3600**

"Miracle is one of the more common cards you can find on the action fields. But, on the rare occasion, you will find that there will be a trap." Yuzu explained. "Turn end!"

 **Yuzu: LP 4000 (Cards X5)**

"Definitely last resort then..." Yuto muttered. "Draw!"

"I tribute Entermate Discover Hippo to summon Entermate Hammer Mammo!" He announced as the hippo on his field disappeared and in its place, a small blue elephant with a similar circus style to that of the hippo appeared.

 **Entermate Hammer Mammo: 2600 ATK/1800 DEF/LVL 6/BEAST**

"I now attack your monster with my own!" He called out as his monster destroyed Aria, decreasing Yuzu's life points.

 **Yuzu: LP 4000 – 1000 = 3000**

"Turn end!"

 **Yuto: LP 3600 (Cards X3)**

"Simple, but it gets the job done, I suppose!" Yuzu commented. "My turn! Draw!" She smirked.

"I summon Opera the Melodious Diva in attack position!" She called as the small female monster with pink hair and a large dress appeared.

 **Opera the Melodious Diva: 2300 ATK/1000 DEF/LVL 4/ANGEL**

"I then activate the spell card Sword of Dagla from my hand! This allows Opera to gain 500 attack points!"

 **Opera the Melodious Diva: 2300 ATK + 500 ATK = 2800 ATK**

"I would be able to attack you this turn, however Opera can't on the turn that she is summoned. So for now I will end my turn and see what you come up with Yuto!"

 **Yuzu: LP 3000 (Cards X4)**

"Draw! I summon Entermate Silver Claw in attack position!" The boy called out as another circus styled animal appeared on the field, this time being that of a wolf-like creature with larger than normal claws.

 **Entermate Silver Claw: 1800 ATK/700 DEF/LVL 4/BEAST**

Yuzu took off in another direction, seeming to have spotted something, Yuto deciding to attack whilst he had the chance.

"I attack with Entermate Hammer Mammo! Its ability sends any spell and trap cards on your field back to your hand, allowing it to destroy your monster!" Yuto declared.

Yuzu skidded across the grass and behind a tree, grabbing an action card, playing it immediately. "I play Evasion! This negates your attack, so my monster and spell stays!"

Yuto clenched his teeth together but smirked. Yuzu was a quick-thinker, the past few days that he had been with her were proof enough of that.

"Turn end!"

 **Yuto: LP 3600 (Cards X3)**

"Draw!" Yuzu shouted. She stared at the card for a moment before playing it. "I now summon Freya, Guide to Victory in attack mode!" Another monster in the form of a woman appeared on Yuzu's side of the field wearing black and blue clothing.

 **Freya, Guide to Victory: 100 ATK/100 DEF/LVL 1/ANGEL**

"And now, while Freya is on the field as long as there is another angel type on the field, you can't attack this monster. Also all monsters will gain 400 attack and defence points on my side of the field as long as they are an angel type!" Yuzu explained.

 **Opera the Melodious Diva: 2800 ATK + 400 = 3200**

 **Opera the Melodious Diva: 1000 DEF + 400 = 1400**

 **Freya, Guide to Victory: 100 ATK + 400 = 500**

 **Freya, Guide to Victory: 100 DEF + 400 = 500**

"And now, Opera the Melodious Diva will attack Entermate Silver Claw!"

Yuto glanced at the card that he had set faced down, as if to contemplate whether or not to use it, eventually deciding to let the attack hit his monster instead, destroying the wolf.

 **Yuto: LP 3600 – 1400 = 2200**

"I end my turn!" Yuzu stated. "You'll have to pull out a powerful monster if you want to beat my monster."

 **Yuzu: LP 3000 (Cards X4)**

"Draw!" Yuto stared at the card that he drew before confidently looking back to Yuzu. "From my hand, I play the magic card Cyclone! So I can now destroy your Sword of Dagla!"

"Eh? Cyclone?" Yuzu asked in surprise, her eyes widening. "Since when did...?"

Before long, her Sword of Dagla card was destroyed, and thus, decreasing the attack points of her currently strongest monster on the field.

 **Opera the Melodious Diva: 3200 ATK – 500 = 2700**

Yuto glanced back at the cards in his hand that gave off a familiar presence. All three of them were pendulum monsters. Yuto glanced up at his own field.

"With the Scale One Stargazer Magician and the Scale Eight Timegazer Magician, I set the Pendulum Scale! With this, I can summon monsters with levels Two through Seven! Swing, pendulum of souls! Draw an arc of light across the ether! Pendulum Summon! Appear now! My monster! Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!"

Yuzu stood there with wide eyes and being unable to speak properly as her mouth just opened and closed as all of it took place. She watched as Yuto perfectly set the scale, the monsters chosen for the scale being perfect, the monster he summoned with the scale being perfect. And even the chant, word-for-word, being perfect. All of it was exactly how Yuya would do so. How was that even possible? She was unable to comprehend all of this was possible as Yuya's ace monster Odd-Eyes appeared on the field.

 **Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon: 2500 ATK/2000 DEF/LVL 7/DRAGON**

It was as if time had stopped for a moment as the dragon had let out its battle cry. Neither of the two spoke as they just stared at the dragon. Yuzu shook her head in disbelief as she slowly walked towards it, but far away enough that she wouldn't be able to touch it.

"Odd-Eyes..." She whispered before looking at Yuto who looked just as shocked. "Y-You see this don't you? You just Pendulum Summoned Odd-Eyes!" She told him in a louder voice.

Yuto nodded. "But...did I...?" He mumbled to himself.

He couldn't help but to feel some sort of presence as he summoned the dragon, it was as if something was pulling him along and being told what to do and how to do it. It was like the words that escaped his lips weren't his own. He had only duelled Yuya the one time. There was no possible way that he could work it out so quickly.

" _Yuto!"_

There was no way...

...Right...?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Okay another chapter is done at last! Sorry for being kind of late with this one! I was meant to get it out yesterday but I kinda got a little distracted by watching ZEXAL again and I figured out that it's actually a lot of work to write duels. So props to those who can write them quickly.**

 **I know that the duel in this chapter was pretty bad, and I did use action cards more than I liked (I used them like twice, it's not that many but whatever) but I promise once I get it all down, they should be better. I'm hoping that the duel with Yuto's next opponent is better, but I wasn't planning on putting a duel into a chapter until I realised I still had room for one. And yes, I will be using the Japanese names. This is because of with the poll, reviews and PMs; there were many people who seemed familiar with them. Plus, as I said, it would be better for consistency.**

 **Okay! So, important little thing really quick! I want to notify you all of the progress of a chapter! Because I think that a week for a chapter with a duel is possibly asking a lot. Especially when the duel will take up most of the chapter. This could maybe delay the chapter by a week or so. I also have school coming back soon and I already have assignments and other things I need to work on, I won't be able to write next weekend at all due to an event I'm going to, so who knows when the next chapter is coming out.**

 **So I need to know if you guys would visit a Tumblr page or something like that? Or just put it in my bio? I wasn't too sure about the bio, and I know that other people use Tumblr for updates, story progress and all that stuff. So, just let me know what you all prefer so I can keep you all updated. I might even get your opinions and access to new ideas for stories!**

 **I may write a little cute side series to keep you all entertained on hopefully the Sundays that I don't update this story, but we shall see how it works out. It's less plot-heavy so I want to know what you all think of that too!**

 **So, with all of that finally said, please leave a review! I would love to hear what you all have to say! It means the world to me when I find another lovely review to read! Thank you all for reading and your support!**


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